Vegetarian Shoes

“We have come a long way since Veggie Shoes first started in 1990. Then I made all the shoes by hand, originally only one style – a basic lace up shoe.

I was inspired to hear that in parts of Africa, car tyres were recycled into soles. This got me thinking and soon I was making shoes out of anything I could lay my hands on, but being veggie I didn’t want to use leather.

Then I made an exciting discovery, -a synthetic Microfibre material used for yachting upholstery. It looked and felt like supple leather, but was ‘breathable’. After some experimenting, Vegetarian Shoes was born.

The range of styles quickly grew. Every thing was made to order and I got busier and busier to the point where I could not make the things fast enough!

So I took my material to a footwear factory to get them to make shoes for us. Nowadays, I no longer make shoes. (which I do not miss, as it was blooming hard work !).

Most of our shoes are made-to-order for us. Vegetarian Shoes is still a small business. We now send shoes all over the world and a growing number of stores carry a selected range.”

Robin (Vegetarian Shoes)