What could be easier in life than changing the shoe brands you wear so that they are kinder to the planet and our environment?
Recycled shoes aren’t pre-worn shoes. Let’s make that clear!
They are shoes made out of recycled materials, such as recycled plastic bottles or recycled polyester, that allow you to have a comfortable and attractive shoe that doesn’t keep burning through our natural resources in manufacturing.
Our top picks for the best recycled shoes brands include a number of smaller brands at all different price points utilizing a range of different recycled materials.
One of the most popular materials used is PET, which is recycled plastic.
Sperry Bionic Recycled Shoes
These causal looks would be perfect on the deck of an environmentally friendly yacht.
Every pair you buy removes 5 plastic bottles from potential landfill. This in turn, keeps carbon emissions and material waste down.
We like these sustainable sneakers and the recycled rubber soles are super comfortable. They result in stylish shoes that we’re proud to wear and to talk about the supply chain and how good it is with our friends.
Cariuma
Cariuma uses a wide-range of products made from recycled materials including rubber, bamboo and cork on top of the PET plastic that most other companies use.
They also recycle their packaging which is a really good thing. The fashion industry really needs to work towards more of this sort of thing in the quest to be carbon neutral.
However, if you’re a vegan, we have to warn you that they also use leather (and sadly, not vegan leather, yet) in some of their products though not all of them.
Parley For The Oceans + Adidas Recycled Plastic Sneakers
Parley for the Oceans is an arm of Parley TV and they want to keep plastic from ending up in the ocean and thus most of their products use large amounts of recycled ocean plastic.
They teamed up with Adidas to produce a range of recycled plastic sneakers using the sustainable materials that they create from those plastics.
Parley removes plastic from the oceans, they then make it into fibers and Adidas take the fibers made from recycled plastic to make the sustainable sneakers.
Indosole Recycled Tire Shoes
Indosole is a sneaker brand that is concerned with the enormous mountains of used vehicle tires that are growing up around the world.
They recycle these tires to form the natural rubber for the soles of their vegan-friendly and super comfortable new shoes.
They use eco friendly materials for the uppers too.
Saola Recycled And Vegan Shoes
They’re not the cheapest shoes on our list but they are among the most stylish.
They use recycled materials, algae and natural materials to create beautiful and comfortable shoes.
They are completely vegan and they say that each pair prevents at least 3 bottles from being dumped.
MOVMT Recycled and Organic Cotton Shoes
Incorporating both recycled plastics and organic cotton (not recycled cotton, yet) the MOVMT shoes are the result of an unhappy surfer discovering stupid amounts of plastic waste in the ocean whenever he went surfing.
Reclaimed plastic becoming recycled PET is awesome, the use of recycled bottles really does make the world a better place.
They’re eco-friendly sneakers made with renewable materials that look amazing!
Etnies Recycled Rubber And Plastic Shoes
Etnies are for those who love to skate, and the thick rubber soles won’t let you down when you’re trying to put the breaks on your board.
Of course, they’re very cool looking too, so don’t think that you have to own a skateboard in order to wear a pair of Etnies.
Rothy’s Recycled Plastic Bottle Shoes
Rothy’s claim to fame is that they’ve already converted over 20 million plastic bottles into shoes.
You can’t argue with that and you probably shouldn’t argue with their investor, Meghan Markle, either.
Their sustainable shoes are gorgeous but they aren’t the cheapest options on the market, sadly.
Changing over to eco-friendly shoes doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice your fashion taste, and nor does it mean that you have to spend a fortune. This new and exciting approach to shoe manufacturing has something for everyone.