By Janet Shan •
January 19, 2009
Leather manufacturer ISA Tan Tec will spend $8.7 million on its new, Vietnam-based tannery aimed at producing leather using fewer resources than industry standards. The German/Chinese company was founded by CEO Thomas Schneider, who said that the demand from its clients for ecologically friendly leather is increasing rapidly. The Ho Chi Minh City location, set to open in mid-2009, will have 280 employees churning out two million square meters of leather a year.
By Terri Bly •
January 9, 2009
Terri Bly reviews eco-friendly, gorgeous footwear by Spanish company El Naturalista.
By Rhonda Winter •
December 26, 2008
Today as I was cleaning out my closet I was especially struck by the second Kwanzaa principle of Kujichagulia, or self-determination. It encourages us to determine our own path, to define, name and speak for ourselves through creativity. I thought of Muntadhar al-Zaidi, whose passionate shoe throwing spoke such volumes. I looked at my sad worn out shoes and was immediately inspired to create a personal Kwanzaa gift for him; and I will send them both to him, if he [...]
With several new GO blogs launching in March, a few of sustainablog’s regulars moved on to other posting assignments. We were fortunate that a number of friends, such as the folks at Life Goggles, Environmental Defense Fund, and Eco-Libris, did admirable jobs in filling the gap. Additionally, we were pleased to republish several posts from the University of Kansas’ “Media and the Environment” course blog.
The original content we did publish was great stuff, of course. Take a look below, and see a few of the goodies from March (and not a single post on green beer!).
March 2008
By Amiel Blajchman •
October 8, 2008
TOMS Shoes: Shoes for Tomorrow, based in Santa Monica, California wants to give its products away. And you can help.
When TOMS’ founder Blake Mycoskie went to visit Argentina on vacation, he discovered more than he expected. While touring, he was exposed to the Argentinean soft shoe called Alpargata. He was also challenged by the poverty he saw, including the villages with children who did not even have shoes. As a result, he decided to create an organization that would be able to fill the simple, but necessary, need of putting shoes onto the feet of children who needed them.
By Jamie Ervin •
September 27, 2008
As colder weather approaches, we begin thinking about shoes for even the youngest feet. I have used and ADORED Robeez for my children. Now, we have a similar type of bootie with an earth friendly, sustainable footprint.
Even better news, Simple Shoes, the maker of the Infant’s Weebit (shown here in slate rose) also makes grown up shoes!
By Skye Kilaen •
August 13, 2008
So, flip flops. I don’t wear them, but you very well might. Here in Austin, they’re everywhere, from McDonald’s to the nicest restaurants in town. We’re a casual people.
(Yes, I ate at McDonalds! I get one milkshake there about every four years! Yes, I know it’s wrong! I was having a really bad day! I’m sorry!)
UniqEco is just one of the companies making crafts out of recycled flip flops, but I heart them the most. The company was started in response to an ecological nightmare - discarded flip flops washing up on Kenyan beaches in vast numbers. (Apparently, y’all flip flop wearers aren’t that concerned about what happens to your footwear - but since they don’t actually provide any protection for your feet, it kind of makes sense that you wouldn’t notice they were missing.) The invading flip flop armada kept turtle mamas from laying eggs and baby turtles, if any, from getting back into the ocean.
By Autumn Wiggins •
August 4, 2008
Clothing swaps are becoming ever more popular as we all look for ways to save money, and stay stylish. Add in the possibilities for DIY modifications, and you can whip yourself up an entirely new wardrobe for practically nothing. It’s one thing to trade among friends, or your local community, but what if people from all over the planet could participate in a 24-7 swap party from the comfort of their homes?
DigNSwap.com aims to be a catalyst for online clothing, shoe, and accessory trading. You simply upload photos of stuff you want to swap, and indicate a few attributes such as size, color, brand and condition. Then, you “dig” through what others have to offer using convenient category and tag based searching. When you find something you like, you can bid on it with items in your stash. If your bid is accepted, then you ship the items to each other. Pretty neat, right?
This site recently launched its beta release, and tapped CAGW to help get the ball rolling with participation. That means YOU can be among the first people to help build an online community that facilitates revamping fashion rather than trashing it. For those not familiar, “Beta” websites are, for the most part, fully functioning, but may have some bugs that need working out. Most site administrators encourage visitors to disclose glitches or issues with functionality during this period with hopes that tweaking will culminate an ideal end-user experience.
I spied these gorgeous slingbacks from Terra 
Plana that are made with veg leather and a fabulous eye for style a few weeks ago and cannot get them off of my wishlist.
Very eco-chic indeed. The company sources locally when possible to minimize transportation cost and impact and uses recycled materials, like old parachutes for soles.
Hats off — or would “shoes off” be more appropriate? — to all the kids across the U.S. who helped collect more than 10,000 used sneakers for recycling, setting a Guinness World Record at the same time.
National Geographic Kids magazine launched the shoe collection effort after publishing a special green issue last fall, with actress Cameron Diaz serving as a guest editor and campaign kickoff donor of two pairs of old shoes. Five members of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team also contributed used footwear for the cause.
By Susan Vallee •
June 17, 2008
Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist and professor at the University of Arizona, joined forces with shoemaker Rockport to study what types of microorganisms are transported by footwear. Ten people were given a brand new pair of shoes to use for two weeks before having them tested for bacteria.
After two weeks, more than 420,000 units of bacteria were found on the outside of the test shoes. Of that bacteria, 27% were deadly E. Coli virus. Also detected was Klebsiella pneumonia, which can cause pneumonia and wound and bloodstream infections and Serratia ficaria, which can lead to infection of the respiratory tract.
