Green Shoes

(Adorable green/white polka dot shoe from Simple. Purchase here.)

Sometimes I tend to work in a very stream-of-conscience manner. This is how I arrived at the topic of green shoes.

I was going through my emails and happened to see an advertisement for Payless' eco-friendly shoe line, Zoe & Zac, embedded in one of my emails from Ideal Bite. I was like, "oh cool," and proceeded to investigate what it was all about. It turns out Zoe & Zac is rather controversial, as all the shoes are made in China and shipped to the US. I didn't really expect otherwise, as everything in their line costs less than $30, but this obviously doesn't merit them receiving a perfect 10 on the nebulous "green scale" that those trying to be eco-friendly are judged by. I tend to be a little more liberal in my judgements, and feel that just the fact that they are using eco-friendly and recycled materials is a step up from the other cheap shoes Payless sells.. However, before you shop you should know they are made in China and many have been critical of this.

After this bit of reading, I remembered that I needed to find some flip-flops for Mr. GGG, as his have become unfit for public consumption. This does not stop him from wearing them out in public, so I needed to find a replacement for this sorry pair of sandals quickly. I went to my shoe site of choice, Zappos, and was pleased to find that I could search for shoes under the category of "eco-friendly." You can read and judge for yourself just HOW eco-friendly these brands are. For example, Birkenstock clearly states their shoes are made in Germany, but Simple refers to their "business partners" and doesn't explicitly state where the shoes are made. 

Green Shoe Brands: (click on name to be linked to web site)

• Simple
• Birkenstock
• Patagonia
• North Face
• Rafters                       

(Just for fun, here is a silly video about one lady's shoe fetish. I present...Shoes!)