Renewable Revolution

Birkenstock to Release All-Vegan Line in the U.S.!

Kat Smith   
January 10, 2017   

Fans of comfortable, leather-free shoes, rejoice! Birkenstock is finally bringing vegan versions of its classic styles to its customers in the U.S. – and they are already available for purchase. According to Footwear News, the Germany-based shoe company “is responding to consumer demand for vegan products” — and not a moment too soon because in fashion, you need to be one season ahead, so the time to start planning your wardrobe for spring and summer is now. How is that for following the old adage of “ask and you shall receive?” While the company does offer its U.S. customers and their children some vegan footwear options, we have been sorely missing out on the classic clogs and sandals that have made the brand iconic for hippies and grunge fashion in the 90s.

According to Yahoo News, “the first run of the shoes in the U.S. will include 30,000 pairs in various models, such as the classic Boston clog and the city-chic Gizeh thong sandal.” And of course, all of the shoes will feature the classic cork footbed which makes Birkenstock shoes so comfortable.

Are you looking forward to finally being able to tromp, strut, and sidle in comfort once the cold is gone? Who knows, maybe Vogue will chime in and give these ugly-chic sandals their blessing, like they did back in 2013 after high fashion brand Céline had its models wear a pair of slip-ons as they did their thing on the catwalk.

Birkenstock listening to consumer demands for leather-free shoes just goes to show you how popular cruelty-free options have become in recent years. Now we'’ve got a lot more to look forward along with the sunshine to come! 

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/vegan-birkenstocks-available-in-the-us/

Agelbert NOTE: Don't buy for style; buy only because of genuine need. I have not purchased any clothing (even socks!) for about 15 years. The last time I bought a pair of shoes was in 2007 for walking on the treadmill after being implanted with a pacemaker.

Remember, frugality is not just prudent and good for the biosphere, FRUGALITY IS FREEDOM!

     

Eddie snarked,

The leather free material is made from fossil fuels...polyamide and acrylic. But hey, it's VEGAN!

https://rankabrand.org/sustainable-shoes-footwear/Birkenstock

Eddie,
You have a tremendous capacity for irrelevance. You should have been a lawyer. I will not enter into a discussion of the chemistry of these shoes that you believe, with all your kindly heart and soul, that MUST be made EXCLUSIVELY from hydrocarbons obtained from fossil fuels. And by the way, at present, less than 5% (I think it's much less than that, but I don't want to get into a quibble contest with you) of crude oil refined ends up as feed stock for plastics, pesticides AND fertilizers. But why spoil a good argument, eh? I hope you have enjoyed your fun at my expense. 

Here's a nice little factoid you may be interested in. Did you know that Texas uses more electricity than any other state? Yep. It uses 44% MORE than the next state in line (California).

Do you know WHY it uses so much electricity?    

BECAUSE it has a lot of electrically powered, massively polluting, endlessly toxic Oil refineries.

Yep, OIL refineries that DO NOT have on site generators (except for backup) to get their juice.

But it gets BETTER. These savy Texan oil refiners like to get cheap electricity. Consequently they are enjoying the  FACT that a large percentage of their electricity  comes from WIND POWER!     

I'm sure you know Texas has its own power grid. They did that so they would not have to be regulated by those commies in the rest of the USA. It seems they save some money that way. Good for them.

Texans are amazing folks. The can add and subtract quite well. And when they figured out that it was cheaper to run oil refineries on Wind Power (it's at about 3 cents a Kwh now - that's cheaper than coal fired juice!), they asked no questions about the source of the juice. 

But I doubt whether the fossil fuel industry in the United States of Exxon/Koch Texas wants that to get around too much. But hey, they're Oil refineries!

You should try to be more affable and find common ground with me rather than always trying to get a rise out of me. This "curmudgeon" fixation you have with me smacks of mental illness. I suggest a vegan diet to improve your mood balance.