The Official Guide to Vegan Sneakers That Are Actually Cool
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When I decided to go vegan in college, the first thing I feared for was not my plate but my shoes. Sure, there are enough cheese alternatives that, if you close your eyes and lie to yourself about, taste (almost) like the real deal. But the vegan-sneaker selection at the time looked crunchy and environmental.
Thankfully, in 2021 the alternative-leather market experienced a boom. Nike released the Next Nature Air Force 1s, Adidas released Stan Smith Mylo (made from mycelium), and Gucci dropped the brand’s first vegan-leather sneakers. It looked like pineapple, mushroom, and apple leather were poised to take over. While that didn’t exactly happen — real-leather kicks are still as popular as ever — it did create a domino effect that meant the vegan alternatives to your favorite sneakers are no longer ugly.
The key factor that sets a vegan sneaker apart is that the shoe doesn’t look vegan. And the leather-alternative market has made leaps and strides in recent years, so this is entirely possible to achieve from a material perspective. It just comes down to the design. Despite what some vegan-sneaker drops would have you believe, not every vegan wants to look like they’ve just stepped out of a PETA protest. Some of the bigger brands have nailed it by releasing non-leather editions of their favorite styles, while smaller vegan-shoe brands like Rombaut (which launched in Paris in 2013) have developed their unique style and branding.
Ahead, we round up some of the newest and best vegan sneakers currently on the market, breaking them down by cool factor.