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Vegan Dress Shoes


robert
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I just got some high quality vegan dress shoes for the first time!

 

All my other vegan dress shoes were cheap ones that never lasted very long and just weren't very nice.

 

This time I bought a pair of Vegetarian Shoes brand from www.veganessentials.com and they are awesome! I'm wearing them to the Internet Summit in North Carolina in about a week, with my new belt and I'm really to rock that place!

 

Do you have high quality dress shoes? What brands do you like?

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I love my vegetarian shoes, I have one pair ("cambridge oxford") that I wear almost everyday for the past 3years and except that I have to re-sole it, the fabric is as good as new!

Only problem is that those dress shoes are extremely slippery (walking on humid or sandy flat surfaces is not very safe, maybe it can be solved with new sole?).

 

So I have also some sneakers that do the job very well and winter boots that are great and robust. It's a good investment for long lasting shoes.

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I've been disappointed by expensive vegan business shoes, I've tried a few different brands (a few years ago though) and they all were embarrassingly squeaky on waxed floors.

 

Right now I have a cheap pair of "all manmade materials" shoes from Payless which are fine for an occasional customer meeting.

 

I haven't been able to find a business shoe comfortable enough to wear five days a week that don't have some other fatal flaw, usually the squeaky sole or just ugly styling.

 

Luckily I don't really need to wear shoes most days.

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  • 2 months later...

Hey,

 

I am interesting in this topic.

 

I have looked at many vegan dress shoes online and the only ones that I find nice are the NoHarm ones.

The issue are that:

1- They are quite expensive (but if they last long enough, and are as nice as they seem that'd be ok)

2- No way to try them or see them in real

3- No free shipping in case size or look doesn't work

 

Any idea people?

 

Thanks!

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Holy crap, those NoHarm shoes are expensive! I wish I could sell things like those, but trying to convince people to pay $250 and up for vegan shoes in this economy would only result in my spending a season's shoe budget on things that would just gather dust on the shelves. Even Sanders footwear that we used to carry isn't that expensive, and they made the BEST quality vegan footwear I've ever seen (all styles were hand-made in a small unioninzed shop in the UK, which means they were not cheap, but definitely lower cost than the NoHarm brand styles!)

 

We're working to HOPEFULLY be able to offer free returns on footwear later this year for our shop. It's not set in stone as we're still crunching numbers to see if it's feasible (when you're a billion-dollar giant like Zappos it can be done easily, but for small independent retailers, it's usually a pipe dream to be able to afford such a service due to massive losses incurred on eating the return costs).

 

Fingers are crossed we can do it, as it may be the last foray we have into vegan footwear, since the online mega-stores and shady deep discounters (read: eBay closeouts on shoes that were just released, a tactic some shops use to undercut everyone and get around manufacturer's regulations about adhering to set pricing standards) have put a hell of a hurt on our footwear business this past few years. Precisely why I will no longer look to carry major brands and am working with independent footwear companies that actually want to support small business instead of spit-shining the big retailers whose purpose is to squash the competition!

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Dr Martens make vegan 8-eye boots and 3-eye shoes, both in black or cherry. The boots are $125 and the shoes are $115 US. I bought some of the black boots and they are very nice.

 

Boots

http://www.dmusastore.com/p-3753-vegan-1460.aspx

http://www.dmusastore.com/p-3696-vegan-1460.aspx

 

Shoes

http://www.dmusastore.com/p-3754-vegan-1461.aspx

http://www.dmusastore.com/p-3728-vegan-1461.aspx

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@VeganEssentials: Are the Sanders really that nice? If so I'll look into them too.

 

Good luck into free shipping but yeah seems hard :/

 

 

@sosso: but these aren't dress shoes :/ They are "regular" daily ones, and for that I already wear vivo's.

 

Thanks

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Gee - Sanders shoes are great, but unless they're making a vegan-specific run for a shop, all of their footwear is normally leather. We were the first company they made shoes in synthetics for, and I'm not sure if they're doing it for anyone else at this time.

 

Only buy if you can verify that a shoe of theirs was done in vegan materials, otherwise, if you order direct, you're going to be getting leather!

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Sanders brand shoes that were formerly available at VeganEssentials.com were the best vegetarian dress shoes I have ever seen, BY FAR. If they ever came back I'd pay a LOT to get more of them and I'd buy more than one pair black and brown. Brown non-leather dress shoes are VERY hard to find. The No Harm shoes look great, but over $300/pair?... ouch.

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I bought the Novacas Dennis in Brown Suede from Moo Shoes a couple months ago:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j6/joelbct/Other/Novacas-Dennis-Brown-1.jpg

 

I love them because they can be worn with jeans or dress pants.. They also make a black (non-suede) version.

 

They are handmade in Portugal. I believe Brooklyn-based designer and Vegan Joshua Katcher is the man behind the design. He also has a line called Brave Gentleman which makes the Mastermind Shoe, which at $250 perhaps I will buy next time I have a well-paying job that requires dress clothes:

 

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j6/joelbct/Other/mastermind1.jpg

 

Mr. Katcher apparently can also create custom Vegan bespoke suits. I am so glad he exists and is doing what he is doing so that all of us slightly-style-concerned metropolitan Vegans can have both our compassion and stylish quality footwear at the same time.

 

Highly recommend the Dennis shoe...

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The Sanders brand shoes that were formerly available at VeganEssentials.com were the best vegetarian dress shoes I have ever seen, BY FAR. If they ever came back I'd pay a LOT to get more of them and I'd buy more than one pair black and brown. Brown non-leather dress shoes are VERY hard to find. The No Harm shoes look great, but over $300/pair?... ouch.

 

Hey, Dave!

 

We're hoping that, as soon as there's a bit more of an economic rebound, that we can work to bring Sanders back again. They were AWESOME shoes (the only other men's dress shoes I ever liked were by Shoes with Souls when they did their Italian-made line back in the early to mid 2000s), I really want them to come back but it's tough getting people to pay $180-$200 per pair these days. There's always that chance we'll get them back, might be a bit but it's always possible down the line!

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The brown are ok, I'd still like something nicer though but that could be a start.

Unfortunately I cannot find my size (12, or 11 since I've read they run large) :/

 

They look better in person than in the images. It is a well made shoe, best faux suede I have seen.

 

As for fit, they are European Shoes, so European sizes, if you don't know your Euro/UK sizes see the chart:

http://www.zappos.com/measure-your-shoe-size?gclid=CPL2-ZPVoa4CFWITNAodHGFJPg

 

For instance I am US 10.5, the Novacas fit me in 43. Conversion from US to Euro/UK sizes is an imperfect science, for instance with Dr Martens Vegan boots, neither the UK 9 nor UK 10 fit me, i would need a 9.5 which they don't make...

 

If you are US 11-12, you would probably want size Euro 44.

 

You can place a backorder request for your size from Moo Shoes, that is what I did to get them, it was there within a month. The shoes sell out quickly but they place orders on a regular basis.

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