Is it possible to be organic from head to toe? We're certainly getting closer. Recently, organic footwear, sometimes made with recycled materials, has become increasingly popular. Vegans, in particular, endorse the use of alternatives to animal skins. Today, there more alternatives than ever.
Most leather produced and sold in the U.S. is made from the skins of cattle, as well as horses, sheep, lambs, goats, and pigs. More exotic skins include zebras, eels, sharks, crocodiles, and snakes. As much as 30% of the imported crocodile shoe leather is made from illegally poached animals.
In addition to the cost to wildlife, leather is subjected to tanning, which stabilizes the fibers so they stop biodegrading. Today's tanning process involves mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal tar derivatives, and a variety of dyes, some of which are cyanide-based. In the U.S., much of our leather is chrome-tanned. Chromium waste is considered hazardous by the EPA. People who work in these tanneries are found to have higher rates of cancer as result of being exposed to demethylformamide and coal-tar derivatives. It seems like a high price to pay for fashion.
So what can we do to cut down on our leather-dependence? We can try footwear made of organic cotton, linen, ramie, canvas, and hemp. A few new synthetics (like "Durabuck" by Nike) have the same feel as leather and it's machine washable.
Below are a few websites that you may want to visit for samples of organic footwear alternatives.
Blink
Del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Google
Simpy
Spurl
Technorati
Y! MyWeb