As for the vegan materials, there are certainly less-than-ideal options out there, but to label them all as “bad” is too short-sighted. Especially if you pause to consider the leather industry’s symbiotic relationship with the food industry, which the Drawdown Project lists as the actual second-most damaging industry, at least in terms of its greenhouse gas emissions. Leather comes from cows, which produce the heat-trapping methane, a problem compounded by the fact that Amazon deforestation, 90% of which is attributed to cattle farms, is killing the very trees responsible for sucking carbon out of the atmosphere.
There are plenty of reasons we’ve been motivated to believe leather is the “better choice,” of course, chief among them being the fact that we haven’t been presented with many good alternatives. This is especially true when it comes to shoes: With the exception of sneakers or novelty fabrics like velvet, you could probably spend hours on the designer shoe level of your favorite department store and find exactly zero pairs of non-leather stilettos or ballet flats.
But now that’s changing thanks to two new vegan, sustainable luxury shoe brands. Alfredo Piferi, formerly the head designer at Jimmy Choo, debuted his eponymous collection at Milan Fashion Week in February, comprised of sleek (and 100% vegan) boots and curvy sandals with removable components, like a rhinestone bracelet or “soquette” ruffle at the ankle. “I wanted to create a brand with purpose,” he said on a call from London. “Five years ago, I stopped eating meat and discovered so many other flavors I’d never considered until meat wasn’t an option anymore. I thought, maybe I can do the same thing with shoes. Nobody was doing sexy and sustainable.”
Piferi focuses on bio-based materials—shoe linings made from corn oil, for instance—as well as recycled synthetics. The soquette is made from recycled polyester and recycled lurex, and his faux suede comes from reclaimed plastic bottles. Those materials initially posed a challenge to his factory in Parabiago, Italy—“they had to find a completely new way to mount [and assemble] the shoes,” he says—but he was surprised to find that they also outperform leather in many cases. His vegan leather won’t stretch or crease as easily with wear, and his ultra-thin rubber sole is waterproof and more durable (and less slippery) than a traditional leather sole. “I’m working with what exists, but some materials haven’t been explored [in a sustainable way] yet, like patent leather. I’m trying to get the fashion customer to buy my shoes without even thinking about the fact that they aren’t leather. It’s a balance—if I find a material that isn’t as sustainable [as I would like], I’m transparent about it.” Still, he’s confident that these alternatives still have a smaller footprint than leather. “Once you get to know the details of leather and the chemicals you need to finish it, the impact doesn’t even compare.”
Of course, most of us don’t buy something just because we know it’s better for the planet; we buy it because we truly love it. The luxury shopper has particularly high standards for craftsmanship, quality, and comfort, but Piferi believes his shoes more than live up to them. The retail response suggests so, too: His collection will launch with an exclusive pop-up at Harrod’s in November, followed by Brown’s, Level in Dubai, and On Pedder in Asia. “As a designer, you want to be remembered for the way you changed the perception of a product, not just the product,” he says.
Tina Bhojwani and Jean-Michel Cazabat have a similar vision for Aera, the vegan and “110% sustainable” label they launched online last year. Their story is serendipitous: Bhojwani was shoe shopping at Bergdorf Goodman when she ran into Cazabat, who had recently sold his eponymous line. Both had been thinking about fashion’s environmental footprint and how they could address it, and the idea for a vegan and sustainable shoe line crystallized. The duo’s third partner, Alvertos Revach, became an investor when Cazabat made him a pair of vegan shoes that felt as comfortable and luxurious as the real thing. He also understood the business opportunity: The team’s research yielded very few luxury vegan shoe competitors, and surely, he thought, the demand would only grow as the public becomes more aware of leather’s environmental impact.
Bhojwani explains that Aera’s shoes are roughly 50% bio-based and 50% synthetic, often in the form of recycled plastic or polyester. At first glance, you wouldn’t know the slingback sandals or snakeskin boots weren’t actually leather; Cazabat says they not only look and feel like the real thing, but also won’t wear out like leather. “Our materials aren’t perfect, but they have one-third the impact of leather, because there’s fewer chemicals, less use of fresh water, and of course there’s the cruelty-free aspect,” she says. “Animal farming and agriculture is one of the biggest threats to our environment and global warming, [from the] water use to deforestation and greenhouse gases. We wanted to first and foremost be cruelty-free, and then do what is better for the environment.”
Cazabat actually began using vegan materials when he launched his namesake line 20 years ago, though it was more of a happy accident at the time. “I wanted the linings of my shoes to be red, but red [dyed] leather linings can fade or transfer the color onto skin,” he says. “A friend suggested a vegetable-based synthetic that [held its color]. I thought it would make you sweat, but it didn’t. I’ve never been disappointed by this material.” Still, he says their factory in Veneto, Italy, was skeptical at first: “They thought I was crazy,” he says with a laugh. “They work with the best quality leather, but we explained our vision for the planet.”
Bhojwani adds that their “110% sustainable” promise isn’t just marketing: “We aren’t just being sustainable, we’re also giving back to the planet,” she says. “We calculated every environmental impact in our process and published the Life Cycle Assessment on our website, and it helped us come up with meaningful carbon offsets.” So far, they’ve restored 470,000 gallons of fresh water in American rivers and planted more than 2,000 trees.
Clearly the question is no longer whether it’s “possible” to make a luxurious, vegan, and environmentally-conscious shoe; it’s if the rest of the fashion industry will get on board. “I think it’s about awareness and education right now,” Bhojwani says. “But once companies and consumers realize they don’t have to compromise quality [and design] to do the right thing, there will be growth.”
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