Inhabitat

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Jaane80-

Of course, PVC has its share of environmental issues and controversies, but so does leather. The meat industry and factory-farming industry (of which leather is a part) has a HUGELY negative impact on greenhouse gas emissions and the state of our environment in general. I’ve seen statistics that put the meat/dairy industry as one of the world’s leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions which are causing climate change. And there aren’t a lot of choices for sandals that don’t involve either plastics or leather. So if you want to wear sandals (which many of us do in the hot hot summer), its basically a choice between two evils. If we highlight ‘eco leather’ shoes like Terraplana, the vegans get mad, and then when we highlight vegan plastic shoes, everyone else gets mad. The fact is, Melissa is one of the few shoe companies out there making stylish, cute, vegan, fair-trade, responsiblly-manufactured shoes that are also affordable. Cut them some slack please. Point me to a better vegan shoe company and we’ll gladly write about them.

Thanks for reading-
Jill

Editor-in-chief
inhabitat.com

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Hi,
Thanks for not deleting my comment. I think you’ve done a great job at highlighting the positive aspects of this company, my concern was the lack of any critical perspective in this post. Yes, I realize that leather also has it’s own issues. Plastics do provide an alternative but PVC is one of, if not the most dangerous plastic with respect to human health. Many companies are voluntarily phasing out use of PVC in addition to several governments regulating and restricting its use. Mooshoes is a vegan footwear vendor that does not sell shoes made with PVC, polyurethane is a common alternative that is less hazardous. Perhaps Inhabitat could put together a post highlighting pros and cons of each material used in shoes (leather, ecoleather, fabric, PVC, rubber, other plastics) so readers can be better informed on all these choices?
Making shoes of a recyclable material is a step in the right direction. If I put these shoes in the recycle bin, where will they end up? Plastic types need to be separated for recycling, so if the type of plastic is not clearly identified on the product, it will go to a landfill despite my best intentions. It’s great that Melissa recycles their own waste, but it’s continued consumer pressure that will motivate them to take even MORE steps towards sustainability, cutting them slack will not. So please add some critical comments to your post to keep these companies on their toes instead of essentially providing free advertising. Let’s keep the discussion going!