Greening Your Footwear

Having trouble going green and maintaining your wardrobe? Want to add some eco-friendliness to your routine? Try swapping out your old kicks for a new pair of earth-friendly shoes!

Now that sustainability is the focus of many consumers, it is easier than you may realize to find footwear that is not only comfortable and cool, but earth-friendly as well. Brands like Keen and Patagonia have been at it for a long time, using sustainable products and manufacturing processes, as well as resource-saving packaging as well. Now, mainstream companies are getting with the program, too.

Earlier this year, Payless released a new line of green footwear. The shoes feature organic cotton and linen, hemp, recycled outsoles, and eco-friendly packaging. With over four-thousand stores across the United States, that makes the largest shoe retailer in the country a purveyor of the green movement.

Sustainability and environmentalism are growing concerns for everyone, and this is apparent from the response from the business sector. Companies are more than ever focusing on reducing emissions, and limiting pollutants from manufacturing.

Brands like Patagonia were early to the punch. In 1985, the company started the 1% For the Planet campaign in an effort to draw attention to the issue. Patagonia donated 1% of all total sales to programs that brought awareness to environmentalism and projects that helped clean up and preserve wildlife. Since 1985, the company has raised over $34 million for the campaign. Other businesses, many of which are small and local, have joined the club.

Even running shoes are getting an earth-friendly makeover. An industry that was once dominated by synthetic materials is becoming more earth-conscious through design. We’ve mentioned Brooks’ Green Silence in past posts – it’s the shoe with BioMoGo, a compound used for the midsoles that biodegrades at a much faster rate than other synthetics. Earth Neutral Design, or END, is a shoe brand based out of Portland, Oregon. The shoe brand uses bamboo fibers and recycled soda bottles in their design, creating a more eco-friendly shoe. The shoes are available at retailer REI.

Plenty of green products, including footwear, are now available. If you’ve been meaning to go green, let green footwear be your first step forward. You can check out any of these brands or retailers online, or go to your local shoe store and ask about environmentally-sound footwear.

Central Florida Foot & Ankle Center, LLC
101 6th Street N.W.
Winter Haven, FL 33881
Phone: 863-299-4551
http://www.FLFootandAnkle.com