Fashion, Evolved

You already know and love Tom’s Shoes–the company that donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair you purchase:

So far the company has given away 140,000 pairs of shoes around the world.

Now you can commemorate your special wedding day by kicking off your marriage on the right foot (puns intended).  Tom’s has a line of shoes suitable for brides which include a white, a gold, and a silver pair.

Granted, the shoes are a bit conservative looking, but honestly, most wedding gows are so long you don’t see the bride’s shoes anyway.  And let’s face it, these are going to be a lot more enjoyable to dance the night away in than a pair of pumps or heeled sandals.

Check out the Wedding Shoes from Tom’s:

In 2005, friends Jodi Koskella and Laurie Carroll set out to do the unthinkable:  Make a line of sustainable, vegan shoes that even non-vegans would love.  Along with a seasoned mentor, the two women managed to launch Charmone within a year.  I’ve featured their shoes before on my blog, but this month I actually had a chance to sit down with Jodi Koskella and ask her some questions about her amazing line.

Q:  What was your original inspiration for Charmone?

A:  Laurie used to have a friend who was a vegetarian, but always wore leather.  She used to complain that she couldn’t find shoes that were both vegan-friendly and cute.  Around that same time, she called me and found out that I was just miserable at my job.  She mentioned to me that she wished she could get into fashion, and I agreed.  Except that we didn’t want to be part of a corporate environment.  We really wanted to be part of the design process.  When we sat down and analyzed the market, the only vegan shoes we found were either ugly or plastic.  We wrote a business plan, did research, and tried to cover all the bases.  At a key moment we had a chance meeting with a vegan Italian-speaking consultant who was experienced in shoe making.  The rest is history.

Q:  One of the most impressive things about Charmone shoes is that they are really and truly gorgeous, and there is a large range of styles.  Who designs the shoes and how frequently do you add new styles?

A:  Laurie and I design the shoes ourselves.  We live in different parts of the U.S. but we meet together a couple
times a year.  Every six months we release new styles, and we’ve actually brought back some of our most popular styles based on customer demand.

When we were starting up, we knew that we would have to make shoes that would stand on their own.  Many of the retailers we went to didn’t have any interest in buying “vegan” shoes, and we didn’t even try to present them that way.  The design speaks for itself.

Q: What kinds of materials go in to making your shoes?

A:  Our fall shoes tend to be made out of eco-friendly microfiber from Italy.  This is a high-tech PVC-free material that mimics leather.  The faux suede is literally impossible to tell from real suede–the only difference is that our faux suede is actually water resistent.

For spring shoes, we use a lot of organic cotton and hemp.  We found that these fabrics can be printed on digitally which means there’s no need for fabric dyes which generate toxins.

Q:  Why don’t more designers use eco-friendly and/or vegan materials?

A:  In the fashion industry, people are stuck in their ways.  Especially with regard to shoes.  We would go to shoemakers in Italy and tell them what we wanted and literally be kicked out of their shops.  Shoes have been made in a certain way with certain types of materials for thousands of years.  Laurie and I have come in to this process with no formal fashion background, so we didn’t have any preconceived notions about how things should be done.  Just because no one has done something before doesn’t mean it can’t be done.

Another thing to consider is that the fashion industry still isn’t taking the green movement as seriously as they could.  When we are contacted by fashion magazines or other press, it’s usually because they are putting together a special ‘green feature’.  Most mainstream companies are just not on board with sustainable fashion yet, either because the choices in materials are limited or more expensive than they are willing to work with.

Q:  Finding shoes that are both vegan and sustainable is a difficult task.  How do you ensure the sustainability of your shoes?

A:  We only produce our shoes in countries with strict labor laws such as Italy, Brazil and the U.S.  Brazil
actually has a lot of sustainable business programs and of course, Italy has amazing shoe artisans.  It’s challenging to get fine work done in the U.S.  We just don’t have skilled shoe makers here.  Some of the more casual shoes are made here in the U.S., and the high fashion shoes are made in other countries.

All the factories we work with are small, family-run enterprises.  They are as concerned about cost and waste and we are, if for no other reason but that it keeps their costs down.

Q:  Looking back over the past four years, what are you most proud of about Charmone?

First of all, I’m proud that we just managed to do it.  That we made the decision, took the leap, and saw it through.  When I first decided to start up the company I was in Paris with my dad, and I told him what I was planning.  A year later I came to him with a shoe in my hand and he was both shocked and proud.  The other thing I’m proud of is how well we’ve been received by the press. We’ve had a lot of great press and it feels great.

Q:  What’s the future for Charmone?

We want to get more innovative with the materials we use and we’d like to use more hemp and bamboo.  We also want to stay at a luxury level product with a focus on our quality.  And we have some kids’ shoes in the backs of our minds that we’d like to sell in the future.

Thanks to Jodi for her time!  For more information on Charmone shoes visit the website www.charmone.com.  Best of luck Jodi and Laurie!

A few years ago Annie Mohaupt was working as an architect, spending her days lamenting the lack of excitement in her chosen career path.  She’d discovered that architects spend a lot of their time doing boring stuff like calling clients and doing paperwork rather than building skyscrapers; and inside her soul the flame of creativity was burning away, unfulfilled.

So she did what any self-respecting red-blooded American girl would do.  She got some new shoes.

Except, unlike the rest of us, Annie didn’t head for the mall or hop on Amazon with her credit card.  Instead she got out her safety glasses and toolbox and made them herself.

A jewelry designer friend of hers invited her to participate in the Renegade Craft Fair, and she accepted, initially not even knowing what she was going to sell.  She then spent almost a year developing the initial model of her handmade wooden-soled shoes.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said to me in an interview last week.  “There was a line out of my tent at the craft fair and I nearly sold out.”  Taking it as a sign that her destiny was evolving, she proceeded to develop her line, calling it Mohop Shoes.

Totally hand crafted, the wooden foot beds are curved to provide support, and the shoes feature elastic loops which allow the ribbon to move with the foot and preventing blisters and chafing.  Annie personally tested them with her own “100 Mile Test”, logging 100 miles in one pair of her shoes to ensure that they could hold up to years of wear and tear.

“There’s no point in making an eco-shoe if it falls apart,” she laughed.  Indeed, while many shoes that are “vegan” or “green” are safely manufactured, if they don’t hold up to wear and tear they’ll quickly end up at the landfill and have to be replaced, defeating the purpose of buying them in the first place.
The signature feature of Mohop shoes, aside from the wood soles, and luxurious faux suede footbeds, are the ribbons which are completely changeable and interchangeable earning it the nickname “the infinity sandal”.  Different lengths and styles of ribbon can be used to create unlimited looks–from formal to casual, from simple to ornate.

While the shoes cost a little more than your average sandal, the cost can be justified because they so versatile.  Additionally, they are all handmade in the U.S. by Annie and her team in Chicago.  “I make every attempt to keep costs low, and still ensure quality and ethically produced shoes,” she said proudly.

Regardless, Annie has offered my readers a special discount of 25% off their order when they purchase Mohop shoes online.  Simply use the discount code:  GREEN25 at the time of checkout and the discount will be automatically applied.  Also, all domestic shipping is only $2.00.

I wish Annie and her team the best of luck as she seeks a U.S. based manufacturer and begins designing even more innovative, versatile and eco-fabulous shoes!