Several years ago, organic shoes were popular but only among the granola types. These days, even cool people like A-list celebrities are also going green when it comes to their footwear. Organic shoes are made from organic and recycled materials such as 100 % cotton or hemp, old car tires, and other sustainable materials. But why should you wear organic shoes? How does wearing them help the environment? Here are some answers to your questions.
- You cannot find a pair of all-natural shoes made of leather because leather needs to be treated by chemicals, and these chemicals cause air and water pollution. Aside from pollution, they also cause health problems such as respiratory diseases.
- Traditional footwear use plastic such as polyvinyl chloride or PVC. The smell of brand new sneakers is actually from PVC, and that smell is loaded with dioxins that are very dangerous to people, plants, and animals. Aside form this, it is very difficult to recycle or reuse PVC. Most shoe companies, even the leading brands, have reduced or totally eradicated PVC from their shoe products because of its harmful effects to man and the environment. Organic shoes use PET or polyethylene terephthalate plastic which can be reused and recycled.
- Manufacturers of organic shoes also went from gluing to stitching. As you already know, glue is hazardous to the environment because of its toxic component.
- Finally, more and more companies are using a certain percentage of recycled rubber for the shoes’ soles. The maximum percentage of recycled rubber when making soles of shoes is 30 % and the remaining 70 % should new synthetic rubber. Higher than 30 % recycled rubber and the shoes will fall apart. But some companies claim that they use 50 % recycled rubber to make soles for their shoe products.
Republished by Blog Post Promoter
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!