As my grandmother says: Spend money on good shoes and good beds - because if you’re not in one, you’re in the other!

It’s important to have comfortable and practical footwear. But when it comes to finding shoes sustainably and ethically made… barefoot seems like the best option to be honest.

Shoes are one of the most complex products to make. They are made up of several different types of materials (think of the laces, the tips of the laces, the soles, the inner, the bit underfoot, the lining etc.), each with difficult supply chains to trace back, and different ways to recycle.

But: shoes are kinda crucial! Unless you live on a tropical island somewhere.

With this in mind, this is a guide to sustainable shoes. Shoes created by people who are working hard to change the shoe industry for the better. Shoes that are made fairly or with sustainable materials that can be composted or repurposed once you’re finished with them.

These are not perfect sustainable shoe companies - I haven’t found any who are.

You’ll find my own personal review by the ones that I’ve worn myself (some of the shoes have been gifted to me to trial, others I have purchased).

What you need to know before reading this:

• Price ranges are in New Zealand dollars.

• ‘Made in’ refers to where the garments are made, not inclusive of where the fabric is made.

• If I have personal experience wearing the shoes, I’ve left a review.

• None of these brands are perfectly ethical. No brand, or person, is.

Secondhand Footwear

Type: Anything you could ever imagine!

Cost: Could be free, could be $8, could be $1000

Main Materials: Anything that exists in the shoe world, but technically it’s already recycled by you purchasing it secondhand

Made in: Worldwide!

Returns: Don’t return them, pass them on to someone new that will love them.

Sustainable Shoes Q&A

What is a sustainable shoe?

Sustainable footwear is generally hard to find. And even when you do find them, they are arguably sustainable. The reason sustainable shoes are so much harder to find than other sustainable fashion garments is because of the complexity of materials. For example, a sustainable shoe has a sole, often with multiple materials built into it, a heel, an inner sole, an outer, laces, zips, velcro (though I hope not), eyelets… if you look at the shoes you are wearing right now, how many different materials can you see? Sustainable shoes are complicated. Each material has it’s own supply chain and finding a sustainable and ethically made option for every one of those materials is really difficult. Sustainable footwear companies compromise a lot. And that’s okay! The sustainable shoes listed above are much better than mainstream shoe options and the companies are always trying their best to do better.

What are sustainable shoes made of?

Hemp, sustainably sourced rubber, recycled polyester, organic cotton, rice husk. Sustainable shoes are made of a whole mix of things!

But is it sustainable for me to buy sustainable shoes online if they may not fit?

Personally, I find it hard to buy shoes online. I have been burnt before by sizing issues and returns make the carbon footprint of a sustainable shoe add up! Most of the sustainable footwear companies listed above have really robust sizing schemes. If you are between sizes or unsure, they have helpful helplines to contact. Ultimately, sustainable shoe companies do not want to deal with a whole lot of returns, so they do their best to get you the right size from the beginning.