EMail: for brief & rare updates on new or cheap vegan shoes Leather alternatives cut animal suffering and land waste, so please email me if you spot a dud link or a UK firm to include. If you're looking for a fact sheet outside of the UK, try these: Vegetarian Resource Group (Brad Pitt); A shoppers' guide to leather alternatives (Keevican & Arnold) Leather alternatives frequently asked questions (Tom Swiss); Vegan Corner(US), Hong Kong, Indonesia, Anti-vivisection (Germany) and Vegan in Germany .The Vegetarian Society sometimes does a list which they'll post out as well as publish on the internet. . .
That list is probably out of date; this is new: http://www.waterjets.org/vegan_motorcyclist.html
Most of these firms are wholesale only, but they act as a reminder of what's on the market. Customers for less than about 20 m should fax or write - possibly phone - to ask if there's a retail supplier. Please remember that UK factories are somewhat discriminated against by the current exchange rates regime, and crowded out of the employment and land market by more useless trades like financial services and goverment quangos. They survive on high pressure and low wages.
Canvas made of cotton is common for plimsolls or those heavier versions. Unfortunately the main suppliers are in China. There are also firms that will glue a roll of any material onto thick cotton twill to make a stiff cloth upper material. This is often used for novelty shoes, like camouflage or tartan boots, that are never in stock when you want them.
Coated fabrics that are not porous come from any cloth or haberdashery shop. Most shops don't stock a wide range, but there will be one or two colours of vinyl with cotton backing for upholstery at £5 a meter or so. There are fabric-backed plastics for table cloths (John Lewis, Homebase) and for tarpaulins, marquees and the sides of lorries. http://www.ivcoverings.co.uk Italian vinyl coverings - a wide range of bright patterns, sold by the meter from stock or in circles for table-tops. lorraineelement.com mail order and made-to-order is a fashion and mackingtosh shop on the internet, so some of the clothing in the range is porous. More expensive than Oxfam, and even M&S, she has collected a range of rubberised fabrics which are available by the meter, and the firm is used to one-off requests for different sizes or fashions. There is a "club links" section listing related firms including weathervain.com/range_of_materials.htm mail order and made-to-order are more fetishy about their mackingtoshes - in fact you wouldn't genuinely want to wear some of them at a bus stop - and have another list of expensive exotic fabrics and rubbers by the meter. There may be something similar at J. Coleman Macs by Mail, 24 Nightingale Road, Faversham, Kent, ME13 8RF.
Coated fabrics that are not porous - mainly trade Trade directories, with their categories of "leather cloth" and "coated fabric" hard to use as most of the entries are from tarpaulin-making firms. These firms are geared to trade enquiries, but if you e-mail or fax to ask where you can get a type of product by the meter they might suggest a stockist.
Bhor-Hallbridge Ltd, of Middlesex - fax/phone 0208 961 1614 is a small anglo-Indian firm that imports gloss non-breathable fabric for chair covers. Their minimum order is probably one roll. Bbrown.co.uk sell a good range of PVC and "display suede" Mansam Products of Manchester stock a large range of vinyls, leatherettes and fittings. Murmar Phipps of Northampton There is a vast range of colours for big customers, quite a few kept in smaller commercial-scale ones, but at the last phone call they did not supply any retailers who sold by the meter Fibermark Red Bridge International of Bolton make nice non-breathable gloss coated fabrics for passport covers, bookbinding, wallets and packaging. dmoz.org, the search directory, has a very good list of something like industry>fabrics>non-wovens>imitation leather including links to several of the major factories, which unfortunately excludes the UK. Griffine.com in France make stretchy imitation leathers - PU=Vinyl that is not breathable, and PU slightly breathable "foil" or thin layer on a canvas backing, which is slightly breathable. Their web site has a section "coating is our business - to find out more about it, click here", which shows cloth being coated. Norgahyde of the USA produce various patterned breathable vinyls. They have a distributor in the UK.
Bhor-Hallbridge Ltd, of Middlesex - fax/phone 0208 961 1614 is a small anglo-Indian firm that imports gloss non-breathable fabric for chair covers. Their minimum order is probably one roll.
Bbrown.co.uk sell a good range of PVC and "display suede" Mansam Products of Manchester stock a large range of vinyls, leatherettes and fittings. Murmar Phipps of Northampton There is a vast range of colours for big customers, quite a few kept in smaller commercial-scale ones, but at the last phone call they did not supply any retailers who sold by the meter Fibermark Red Bridge International of Bolton make nice non-breathable gloss coated fabrics for passport covers, bookbinding, wallets and packaging. dmoz.org, the search directory, has a very good list of something like industry>fabrics>non-wovens>imitation leather including links to several of the major factories, which unfortunately excludes the UK. Griffine.com in France make stretchy imitation leathers - PU=Vinyl that is not breathable, and PU slightly breathable "foil" or thin layer on a canvas backing, which is slightly breathable. Their web site has a section "coating is our business - to find out more about it, click here", which shows cloth being coated. Norgahyde of the USA produce various patterned breathable vinyls. They have a distributor in the UK.
Cork probably one of the most carbon-neutral substances available to a designer, and there is a glut of it now that some wine bottlers use metal or plastic bungs. One importer got into the business in order to protect forests for the lynx cat, which lives in cork oak tree forests: www.naturesleather.co.uk already have a material similar to one colour of vinyl coated fabric with more natural texture, pattern, breathability and interest. With luck and demand they will do more: a company now closed in Yogoslavia used a range of different textures and surfaces made of cork material to make funky suitcases and the same could be done again. One surprising thing about the first swatch of cork/cloth material is that it stretches and is slightly breathable, possibly more than most of the embalmed leathers that people favour for similar reasons.
Microfibres These are common for cleaning cloths but a few rare examples are thick and glossy enough for footwear. The name explains why they are better than leather at absorbing moisture: the fibres are very small, with a very large surface area.
Lorica is the coated fabric that a shoe factory would use in the UK, as it is robust enough, breathable, and the importer will sell by the meter. It is a combination of a 1980s technology with a 1950s one: on the top is plastic with little holes in it. Polyurethane, apparently. Underneath is a spongy network of very fine fibres, which both mimic the composition of leather and provide a high surface-area - to - volume ratio, and so a good amount of capillary action to soak sweat through the sponge. Clarino is similar microfibre with or without the gloss front, but without the tumbling, softening and dying that is done to Lorica. It is imported in one or two colours for sale by the meter, or can be ordered by the roll. Axiom is a thinner fabric, gloss or suede-like.
Coated fabrics that are porous are probably not available retail. If you want a roll or more, try Carrington Performance Fabrics in Dewsbury produce who make coated cloth that feels OK and comes in decent colours on one side - including fluorescent yellow, orange, camouflage and pastel shades - and has a membrane on the back. Nobody makes any similar gloss material at the moment, although the coating is available - called a foil - from Porvair in the UK and another firm in Italy. If you hear of a firm selling porous coated fabric in the UK, please let me know. Coating Applications Group in Accrington produce a range called Exeat. The range includes various combined plies of breathable, waterproof and other material.
A rival is called Aquatex. This is licenced to one shoe maker in each market for making those funny elfin womens' boots that feel odd to the touch. Rhode in Germany, Lambert Howarth in the UK and a cheap one called Mephisto in Spain and Italy. The boots are probably vegan and a lot of shops stock them for women - only Rhode in Germany seem to stock them for men.
Corfam (DuPont) and Porvair (Porvar PLC) are no longer made. They used to be porous vinyls that were used for shoe making before microfibres. Porvair was still made in black 2mm until about 2000 for export to India, and a division of the firm that made it still makes porous coatings to attach to leather or any other surface.
Flock Suede or Display Suede: electroflock.co.uk govanlight.co.uk (web site may be closed: 2/2006)
Membranes for putting underneath other fabrics come under the names Hydrotex, Stormbloc, Porvair, and Goretex. It probably isn't helpful to put the suppliers up on the web, as these firms like to deal with approved lists of factories which are good at attaching membrane to outer material without too many rips and smears of glue. Each brand claims to be so fine that vapour can escape but liquid cannot penetrate.
Fake fur can become a dilemma if you take yourself seriously: realistic fur is sets a bad example. But it is good that it might take-over some of the fur market. Retail haberdashery shops might be able to get it or even have it in stock as its' quite fashionable; Wholesale: some of these firms may do a single roll of 50 or 100m or recommend a wholesaler who does; others might assume you want a fabric designed to order and think in terms of a thousand meters. Factories are short of time or money, so ask for their fax number if you call and fax through a request for what you want. It isn't strictly a shoe material but I didn't want to waste the list.
Glues: "it has become common practice to use synthetic adhesives", according to the Animal-Free Shopper, but you'd be hard pressed to make any glue firm say what's in their product. I am told that organic glues have not been used in European shoes for a long time.
Latex is rubber tree sap, or a synthetic version. It is white and congeals into pale brown translucent rubber. UK readers will know it as Copydex, the glue you should never spill on the carpet. If you sponge layers of latex onto a piece of cloth, it becomes rubberised, turning old clothes into fetish gear for a very reasonable price. There is a knack to thickening it - thickeners are available - and the congealing quality can make brushing and sponging irregular. It is sold in some hardware shops at, say, £10 for a 5 litre container as an aid to levelling crumbly cement floors or you could do a web search for "latex 5kg" to get some mail order suppliers. They are expensive, compared to hardware shops, but Alec Tiranti from the fursuit list is probably a good bet.
Leather. If this site appears odd, with its fur-suit references and rubber-dipping, it may strike you that leather is even odder. Most users see no need to justify it but one boot brand have a go on their website:
Leather is preserved animal skin and throughout the ages, man has protected his feet by wearing it. Leather is still used in the manufacture of footwear today because of its sheer versatility and durability. Although modern technology has created a variety of alternatives, we at Dr Martens still consider our finest, naturally finished leather to be the most practical and versatile material available. Despite popular belief no animals are slaughtered in this country for their leather. All of the leather used is produced as a by-product of the meat industry. Once the animal is skinned the hair is removed and the leather is passed through a pickling process known as tanning. After completion, the leather is split into two parts. The top part is known as full grain leather and can be finished in a variety of ways. The bottom part is known as suede, which, although considered to be a quality leather is actually a by-product of full grain leather and would otherwise be discarded. Leather is used in footwear for the following reasons: It is elastic. This allows leather shoes to "give", therefore conforming to the shape of the foot and ensuring a comfortable fit. It is incredibly strong due to its fibrous structure. It will bend and stretch many millions of times. It allows the foot to "breathe" ensuring that the foot remains moisture free. The average human foot produces about an egg-cup full of sweat each day and it is vitally important that this moisture is allowed to evaporate in order to maintain the health of the foot.
Leather is preserved animal skin and throughout the ages, man has protected his feet by wearing it. Leather is still used in the manufacture of footwear today because of its sheer versatility and durability. Although modern technology has created a variety of alternatives, we at Dr Martens still consider our finest, naturally finished leather to be the most practical and versatile material available.
Despite popular belief no animals are slaughtered in this country for their leather. All of the leather used is produced as a by-product of the meat industry.
Once the animal is skinned the hair is removed and the leather is passed through a pickling process known as tanning. After completion, the leather is split into two parts. The top part is known as full grain leather and can be finished in a variety of ways. The bottom part is known as suede, which, although considered to be a quality leather is actually a by-product of full grain leather and would otherwise be discarded.
Leather is used in footwear for the following reasons: It is elastic. This allows leather shoes to "give", therefore conforming to the shape of the foot and ensuring a comfortable fit. It is incredibly strong due to its fibrous structure. It will bend and stretch many millions of times. It allows the foot to "breathe" ensuring that the foot remains moisture free. The average human foot produces about an egg-cup full of sweat each day and it is vitally important that this moisture is allowed to evaporate in order to maintain the health of the foot.
DMs import their leather uppers from Thailand, where animal and human welfare laws aren't enforced, and sell them because of a tradition which is probably stronger among consumers than producers. DM are the only major brand to produce a version for the vegan market, but as long as consumers are daft and irresponsible, producers will be just as bad. Perhaps because DMs produce vegan boots, they have come-up with one of those strange arguments that people produce if they are drunk and defending themselves at a party: "no animals are slaughtered in this country for their leather". Clearly, animals are still slaughtered in this county although the industry is in decline. And the slaughter industry is very good at getting any value it can out of any part of the carcass - from whey powder to hoof glue. The idea that a farmer would think "I'll cut back on animal-rearing next year because more money is coming from leather and less from meat" is clearly bollox. That's why cows have to be bled to death before they die - so that the meat industry can get their cut as well as the leather industry.
Leather-like paper is sold by Winter and Co of Huntingdon for bookbinding under Skivertex brand, and offer a good range of finishes and colours.
Novelty shoes are sometimes cotton or nylon. Any trendy boot shop might stock tartan, velvet or camouflage boots, re-enforced with a thick canvas. This year, grey felt-like material has caught-on for womens sizes, and there seems to be more black nylon around. Woolworth usually have childrens sizes in stock made of canvas.
PVC & rubber boots are uncomfortable for wearing all day, but cheap & pretty ones lurk in the corners of your discount shoe shop - particularly on pavement baskets where they don't mind the rain. Women's court shoes were often made out of PVC, which is what brits call Vinyl, until about 2005 when the main supplier E. Sutton of Rossendale (known for their Courtesy Shoes chain of shops, JBill wholesalers and Comfort Plus shoe range) found no way to continue UK production and reluctantly moved it to India and China. A smaller supplier was Edge of Foreward Works, Bilston, near Birmingham, a large open plan space with strange edwardian tiles round the front wall. The current company is called RSS Edge after the owners and the traditional brand, and made shoes in the UK until about the same time for wholesalers. Now production is in India and the building is used for wholesale and storage.
are often made in the UK out of plastic - mat black PVC is known as Lami, or there are PVC shoes distinguishable by their strange mesh lining that's meant to keep your foot away from the material. If you are in the shop and don't mind Chinese boots, USA Brass are plastic.
Rope or hemp cloth and soles are still used for espadrilles - biodegradable flip-flops from Spain. Rope or hemp canvas used to be a large industry in the UK where the Navy office used to force farmers to grow a an amount of hemp to supply roap. Unfortunately the Home Office banned it by mistake in 1971, thinking it had something to do with cannabis, but it is now becoming slightly trendy to import it from East Europe, Nepal and China. Hemp high top sneakers or tennis shoes are available from Veganline. There is now a UK supplier of home grown hemp on the internet: House of Hemp have found a weaving mill run as a historic monument for school children that can cope with the fibre from their farm and send it back as cloth. Hemp is now legal to grow in the UK with a home office licence that is exactly the same as the EU subsidy for growing hemp.
Rubber / canvas is hard to track down if you want the serious single colon designs, although there is a firm making rubber / canvas jackets on the jackets page of this site. The Four D rubber company sells unique rubber sheeting online, made from Malay or Thai latex grown in sustainable plantations.
Synthetic hide or leatherboard is made mainly or entirely of wood and paper products, although some suppliers such as Salamander in Germany still include an amount of pulped leather off-cuts in their mix, buying scraps from shoe factories.
Synthetic Chamois Leather is sold for car polishing from Autoglym
Waxed cotton was trendy in the 20s when two firms - Barbour and Belstaff - competed to develop breathable synthetic jackets, starting with waxed Egyptian cotton. Belstaff is now a biker brand, but plenty of small firms copy Barbour's snooty fishing jackets and there is even a synthetic version of the cloth called Exeat. Kelly's directory has a catagory for waxed cotton suppliers, including a factory, British Millerain.
site by Veganline the online shoe shop 0800 458 4442
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