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Once and For All, Are Converse Vegan?

August 30th, 2011


Google the phrase “are converse vegan” and you will find a debate raging. There are many different ideas flying around out there.

I decided to attempt to resolve the controversy once and for all by writing to Converse and asking.

Their response:

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, we do not have any products that are certain to be Vegan-friendly. While the majority of our materials are animal-by-product free, the glue in our products can sometimes contain some animal by-products. So, it is not possible for us to advertise our products as being truly Vegan.

We apologize if this prevents you from being able to wear our product. We certainly hope it does not because there is nothing in the world like a pair of Converse shoes!

If we can assist you further, please let us know.

Jessica
Converse.Com
Customer Service

I found this odd however, because 1. it seemed kind of wishy washy…

“the glue can sometimes contain animal by- products” ?

If you remember my post “do shoes have animal based glues in them?”, my conclusion was “not anymore”. Was this wrong?

So I replied:

Hi Jessica,

Thanks for the response! I really appreciate it.
Do you have any idea what kind of animal by products are in the glue? I have done some internet research on the topic of animal glues and read some articles which say most glue nowadays is animal free, so I would be quite interested to know specifically what exactly animal by products in the glue means!
This would really be going above and beyond but I believe it would clear up a lot of controversy on the internet about whether converse are truly vegan friendly. If you google this topic there is a lot of contradictory information out there, so this would be MUCH appreciated!
Thank You!
I have not yet received a response yet…but I will certainly keep you updated if I do.
My conclusion on this matter:
Converse contain no leather products so in this respect they are vegan….
But if you want to get really technical…the glue may sometimes contain animal by products…
The meaning of this needs further clarification, which I hope I will get from Converse.
Now you may ask why do I want to wear converse?
Well these are cool shoes…
iconic American shoes since the 1950s.
Let’s delve deep and pick up some inspiration through google images:
Actresses wear them. Check out K-Stew on the Red Carpet in them.
Musicians wear them. Check out The Strokes in them:
Former model/ TV Personalities wear them….Check out Alexa Chung:
Current models wear them. Check out Jessica Stam wearing them with socks:
Famous bloggers wear them, like Krystal Simpson:
And boys look really cool in them. So they are a great vegan shoe for boys…if you are down with the glue….
Thoughts?
 
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Mid August Vegan Shoe Roundup

August 18th, 2011

Summer colors and light. (This is the country road to take me home.)

I thought I’d do a little fun post here in my old style, doing a round-up of some fun non leather vegan shoes on the web that I would buy.

Let’s begin!

1. Summer is not over yet! oh no! These sandals from urbanoutfitters are vegan, come in brown and white, and are very nice, don’t you think?

$39 Kimchi Blue Ankle-Wrap Thong Sandal

2. Next up is a shoe that I really think I am going to buy. This brings me back to my adolescence. Penny loafers with heels on them. very “Clueless”, very “My So Called Life”, very “10 Things I Hate About You”, very “Hocus Pocus”, very 90s, very cool. These are also from urbanoutfitters.

Cooperative Heeled Penny Loafer, $59.00

This would be a good shoe to wear knee socks with.

3. Now from Forever 21. Snatch these babies up, because unfortunately forever21 sells out of sizes very quickly, and if your size is gone it is gone. I really like these. Tres chic and sophisticated. They remind me of an artist I really enjoy…

Andrea Mary Marshall, the author of Witch: The Book of Bananas, Forks, Spoons and Heartbreak, says in her stylelikeu interview ( a great one!) that shoes like this are the only shoes you ever need.
4. These are shoes from modcloth in a similar vein. Which do you prefer?
5. Yes, I am about to get wild and crazy on you. These are cool. Or is it just me…….
Pleaser Women's Dolly-50 Pump
 Dolly pumps, from pleaser, in a variety of crazy colors and glitters.
do you dare? In a vague way they remind me of Selina of Flying Saucer, one of my favorite fashion bloggers. She is British, and always wears very chunky high heels and these though out there, are kind of channeling her.

Well, thank you so much readers and subscribers for commenting, giving feedback, and making my day. I hope you enjoy my selection of shoes… feel free to tell me what you think of these outrageous choices, and send any more vegan shoes you see out and about in the internet my way!

-Tor

 
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