What are vegan trainers made from?
First it was your best friend, then your favourite coffee shop - but your trainers as well?
You bet - vegan trainers are here to stay.
A more sustainable and fashion-conscious alternative to leather shoes that enables you to both look the part and play your part. What’s not to love?
The following guide will look at exactly what vegan trainers are made from and why your next pair of kicks should be cruelty-free.
As the name suggests, “vegan” trainers do not contain any materials derived from animals. That’s no leather, no suede, wool or fur and exclusive of certain types of glue.
Vegan trainers are typically made from synthetic or plant based materials - or a combination of both. They might be synthetic microfibres, PU and EVA, recycled and/or virgin rubbers or more recognisable canvas fabrics and similar. Technology today gives us a host of alternative options to animal origins.
At LØCI, our range of vegan trainers are constructed from our own in-house composition of recycled textiles and non-food grade corn waste. This innovative bio-leather is totally unique to us.
Not only that but every pair of LØCI trainers made from recycled ocean plastic textiles remove 20 plastic bottles from the ocean - cleaning up our seas and cleaning up your wardrobe.
However, it’s not just the seas that source our uppers but the trees that source our soles. Inside each set of LØCI trainers you will find our signature cork interior.
Gathered from sustainably managed forests, the use of cork not only mitigates our environmental impact but the impact on your feet with a grip that moulds to your own individual footprint.
What are the benefits of vegan trainers?
So why else should you swap your tried and trusted trainers for a new way of thinking? That’s exactly why, because vegan trainers today offer something beyond simply footwear.
Community: When you shop from an ethical shoe brand like LØCI you join a community of likeminded individuals that not only care about the latest trends but are forward thinking enough to care about the world around them.
Not only that, but each pair of vegan trainers you purchase makes a huge step towards reducing cruelty towards animals, mitigating harmful carbon emissions and helping support indigenous communities who are usually exploited for labour. That’s a lot of good causes in just one pair of high end trainers right?
Animal Welfare: Traditional shoe-making materials like leather are a bi-product of the meat industry. Not only can the meat industry be a cruel place for its animal occupants through poor living conditions, substandard diets and hormone and antibiotic treatments but these circumstances can also pose a serious threat to public health.
The overuse of antibiotics on animals being a lead cause of antibiotic resistant bacteria which can lead to “superbugs” which are readily spread to humans. Fortunately, vegan trainers can offer a viable solution to all this - by reducing the demand for leather we can reduce some of the more negative areas of the meat industry as a whole.
Sustainability: Vegan trainers are typically more beneficial to the environment than their leather alternatives - that being said, it is worth noting that not all vegan trainers are “sustainable” per se.
Given their construction from the likes of organic cotton, recycled plastic and/or plant-based materials, vegan trainers are less energy intensive to make. They require less water to produce and this results in a lower carbon footprint than the energy intensive requirements of the leather industry - cows take a lot more space and energy to grow than corn.
This being said, do watch out for vegan trainers made from plastics that claim to be sustainable, these will often be made from petroleum products that can be harmful pollutants in their own right.
Fashion: There’s never been a better time to opt for your first pair of vegan trainers, with conscientious consumer choices being placed on a par with the latest trends. It’s no longer enough to shop without a conscience and companies realise this - with many big brands changing their own practices as a result.
Vegan trainer brands like LØCI have demonstrated that you do not need to sacrifice ethics for aesthetic and that fashion conscious choices can be made alongside a fairer vision for our future as a planet.
LØCI is a fashion-forward, responsibility-facing vegan trainer brand. We don’t just design the most advanced vegan sneakers for the latest trends but we actively seek to drive change from the front.
We believe in high quality, premium aesthetic and sustainable provenance. Whether we’re strolling through fashion week, walking you to the gym or dressing down for a coffee date - LØCI is the nexus between modern lifestyle and the world of tomorrow.
