vegan shoes

Vegan Chelsea Boots, and The History of Chelsea Boots

Yonder Bootie from alloy.com

Distressed faux leather upper; rubber sole

in gray and black

$52.90

These boots are known as chelsea boots. A little history lesson for you all from wikipedia:

Chelsea Boots (also known as dealer boots) are tight-fitting, ankle-high boots that originated in the Victorian era, and were originally associated with horse riding. The most notable feature of the Chelsea boot is its elastic siding, running from the heel to the top of the shoe. The design began as a type of riding boots known as paddock boots or jodhpur boots. Chelsea boots were considered an element of the 1960s mod scene, and they have recently become in fashion again amongst men as well as women. Similar boots are the heavier Australian work boots such as those made by Blundstone, which are popular in Australia.

The popular Australian Blundstone boot, known as Blundies.

A similar style was also known as Beatle Boots, since they were popularized by The Beatles, and these shoes were extremely popular with the “mod” crowd in London in the 60s.

I first learned about the Beatle Boot, and the historic importance of the Chelsea Boot in a great book I got at Urban Outfitters called Fifty Shoes That Changed the World. A surprisingly great read! You will learn all about the different types of shoes and their historic significance.

By the way, Alloy.com, a site I remembered from my youth and on a whim decided to check out again, has a surprisingly large selection of trendy “unintentionally vegan” shoes. If you are looking for a going out shoe, you will find one here. Five inch heels abound! I have added Alloy.com to my Vegan Shoe Shopping Guide at the top of my website, so feel free to check that out if you haven’t already.

 

Floral Vegan Doc Martens

update: A reader called doc martens and informed me that these shoes are actually NOT vegan, and in fact no shoes doc martens makes at this time are vegan. Good to know, but oh no. This worries me because usually I assume if they do not list leather as a material in the materials section that the shoe is vegan. To be totally sure one must do as Shannon who commented did and call companies to confirm!

Another update from Shannon:

Ooh! I have a happy update…

I just received an email from Customer Service saying:

“At present, we do not have any vegan footwear. The Autumn/Winter 2011 collection will contain a complete line of vegan footwear. When it debuts, I will send you an email.”

So look out for Doc Marten’s 2011 collection, that’ll be a great post for your blog!

Thanks Shannon!


Is this awesome or what? Floral Doc Martens with a CANVAS upper and rubber bottom (or ousoles).

Price: $129.50

Buy here from Delias.com

Delias.com is an inexpensive clothing catalog for teens that I used to love when I was in highschool. LIke most inexpensive online retailers I’ve been finding, it’s a pretty good bet that the cheaper shoes they sell are bound to be vegan. You have to do a little clicking around through the “genuine leather uppers” and “suede” etc, but you are bound to find more than a few very cool non leather shoes. I see some great non leather boots on their site right now–feel free to browse!

This is an awesome new  source for vegan shoes. I’ll add it to my shopping guide at the top of my website!