Eco Fashion World

Who knew that vegan shoes would become such a hot trend? Well, trust a hot Brazilian like Melissa to find the recipe for success by collaborating with today’s edgiest designers.

The latest collaboration to date has just been announced, not with a fashion designer, but with an architect; Zaha Hadid , - the first woman ever to receive the Pritzker Prize for Architecture in 2004 - is taking the plastic medium to structural heights with this spectacular new sandal. The shoe, which is due to launch at a party during London Fashion Week in September, is already creating quite a buzz and even has its own statue. It will be available for sale this fall at London’s trendiest concept store: Dover Street Market.

This is not a first for Melissa, since its first successful collaboration with the Campana Brothers in 2004, Melissa has worked with some of the industry’s most avant-guard designers including Judy Blame, Alexandre Herchcovitch and Karim Rashid. Just this month, none other than Vivienne Westwood sent her models down the catwalk at Berlin Fashion Week wearing the new heart pump that she designed for the brand.

But let’s talk about the sustainable credentials of these desirable creations. First, for those of you who are still stuck on the first sentence “vegan shoes” are not shoes who shun eggs and dairy in their daily diet. They are simply shoes that are not made out of leather, a bi-product of the meat and factory-farming industry, which is one of the world’s leading causes of greenhouse gas emissions, and a huge water polluter at the tanning stage. Of course the PVC that these Melissa shoes are made of is not exactly on our list of favorite things. But the sustainable incentives of the company, which recycles 99.9% of factory water and waste as well as previous seasons overstock (yes, the shoes are easily recyclable since molded from a unique piece of plastic), and its social credentials, paying above average wages to its 20 000 employees in Brazil make it an overall interesting shoe option for those who decide to leave leather behind!

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