Sneakers, a staple of contemporary fashion, are increasingly being viewed through the lens of sustainability. In light of this, AI has compiled a list of the top 9 sustainable sneaker brands for 2024. This selection is based on their efforts to incorporate eco-friendly practices and materials into their products. The list aims to provide an objective overview of each brand’s approach to sustainability, highlighting how they are addressing environmental concerns within the sneaker industry. From utilizing recycled materials to adopting ethical manufacturing processes, these brands showcase a range of strategies aimed at reducing environmental impact. This compilation serves as a guide for consumers interested in making more environmentally conscious choices in their footwear, reflecting the growing trend towards sustainability in fashion.
The Problems in the Sneaker Industry
What Consumers Can Do
Opting for Minimalist Designs: Choose sneakers with simple, minimalistic designs that require fewer resources for production and are easier to recycle.
Avoiding Limited Edition Hypes: Steer clear of the hype around limited edition releases, which often encourage quick turnover and contribute to the culture of excessive consumption.
Supporting Brands with Take-Back Programs: Choose brands that offer sneaker recycling or take-back programs, where old shoes are repurposed or recycled, reducing landfill waste.
AII choose brands based on the essential sustainability certifications and standards, specifically for the sneaker industry.
Allbirds
Allbirds is a global lifestyle brand that innovates with naturally derived materials to create comfortable footwear and apparel products. The brand’s core philosophy revolves around environmental conservation, and it is committed to making better things in a better way.
Price Range: $95 – $145
Key Sustainable Features:
- Uses 100% renewable energy for its owned and operated facilities
- Employs 100% renewable energy for its finished good manufacturers
- Achieves a steady state of more than 95% ocean shipping
- Encourages customers to machine wash on cold and hang-dry Allbirds apparel
- Utilizes natural materials like merino wool and eucalyptus fiber in its products
- Committed to carbon neutrality
Cariuma
Cariuma, established in 2018, is a Brazilian sneaker brand combining vintage skate culture aesthetics with a sustainable ethos. Using eco-friendly materials like bamboo, natural rubber, and organic cotton, the brand focuses on durable, comfortable designs. Emphasizing environmental responsibility, Cariuma plants two trees for every pair sold, embodying a commitment to ecological restoration and ethical production.
Price Range: starting at approximately $79, with various styles at different price points
Key Sustainable Features:
- Uses 100% recycled and recyclable paper for packaging, with soy-based ink and biodegradable shoe filler
- Chooses non-hazardous, Bluesign-certified chemicals for manufacturing, reducing water usage and pollution
- Sources organic cotton grown with regenerative methods, avoiding harmful pesticides and fertilizers
- Gathers natural rubber from hevea brasiliensis trees via ethical “tapping”, ensuring no harm to trees
- Utilizes bamboo for its antimicrobial properties and high CO2 absorption, harvested sustainably
- Sources sugarcane from Brazil that relies on rainwater, avoiding traditional irrigation
- Offers a range of vegan sneakers made without animal products
- Implements fair labor standards for safe and healthy working conditions and fair wages
- Focuses on producing long-lasting products to promote mindful consumption
- Emphasizes handcrafted production for quality assurance
- Commits to carbon-neutral shipping methods
Nothing New
Nothing New is a brand that’s committed to making a positive impact through the creation of products that are both loved and sustainable. They believe in making products that not only look good but also do good, with every material used in a Nothing New shoe thoughtfully selected and designed with sustainability in mind.
Price Range: $95 – $108
Key Sustainable Features:
- Uses 100% post-consumer recycled materials
- Saves 160 gallons of water with every pair of sneakers produced
- Employs stitch construction for better environmental impact
- Committed to carbon-neutral shipping
- Operates a Virtuous Circle Program for recycling worn-out shoes
Veja
Veja, also known as “Vert” in Brazil, is a French footwear and accessories brand established in 2004. The brand is recognized for its commitment to sustainability, ethical sourcing, and social responsibility. Veja’s products are made with organic cotton and recycled plastic bottles, reflecting its dedication to environmental conservation.
Price Range: $150 – $215
Key Sustainable Features:
- Employs ethically sourced organic cotton for the linings and insoles of its sneakers
- Uses wild Amazonian rubber for the soles
- Offers both vegan and sustainable leather options
- Works closely with cooperatives of small producers in Brazil under fair trade practices
- Committed to transparency and provides detailed information about its supply chain
Nisolo
Nisolo is a Nashville-based footwear brand that aims to revolutionize the fashion industry with its model of ethical production. The brand is committed to providing consumers with high-quality, tailor-made products while ensuring social and environmental responsibility
Price Range: $82.80 – $250
Key Sustainable Features:
- Guarantees producers earn living wages
- Offsets 100% of carbon emissions across the entire supply chain
- Provides a shoe-recycling program via a partnership with Soles4Souls
Rothy’s
Rothy’s is a San Francisco-based brand that is revolutionizing the fashion industry with its sustainable practices. The brand transforms single-use plastic bottles into stylish, comfortable, and durable footwear and accessories. Rothy’s is committed to reducing waste and promoting sustainability.
Price Range: Approximately $69 – $269
Key Sustainable Features:
- Utilizes a 3D knitting process that eliminates 30% of waste
- Transforms over 166 million single-use plastic bottles into signature thread
- Uses algae-based footbeds and strobel boards
- Achieved both LEED and TRUE Platinum certification
- Launched a shoe recycling program
- Repurposed more than 603,000 pounds of ocean-bound marine plastic
- Uses 35% natural and renewable materials and minerals in its outsoles
- Uses 30% bio-based material and recycled rubber in its insoles
- Packaging uses 95% recycled materials and biodegradable inserts
- Committed to offsetting carbon emissions
Native Shoes
Native Shoes is a Canadian footwear brand that aims to lighten the world through its innovative and sustainable products. The brand’s philosophy, “Live Lightly™”, guides its design process, creating products that contribute to a healthier and happier world.
Price Range: Approximately $50 – $100
Key Sustainable Features:
- Utilizes plant-based, animal-free components in its products
- Employs a flagship recycling initiative, the Native Shoes Remix™ Project, which gives new life to well-loved soles
- Supports tiny activists committed to positive change
- Launched the world’s first 100% plant-based sneaker
Ecoalf
Ecoalf is a Spanish brand that emerged in 2009 with the vision of creating a sustainable fashion brand. The brand’s philosophy is to minimize the use of natural resources by using waste as raw materials, such as water bottles, fishing nets, and used clothes, which are recycled and transformed into high-quality garments.
Price Range: Approximately €95 – €195
Key Sustainable Features:
- Committed to achieving Net Zero by 2030
- Saved over 12.2 billion liters of water with its Fall-Winter 2022 collection
- Recognized as “Best for the World” by B Corp
- Prevented 5.5 tonnes of clothing from being sent to landfill
- Launched a beauty and wellness line with waterless vegan formulations and refillable aluminum bottles
- Developed a premium collection, labelled 1.0, which includes vegan leather made from grape waste and fabrics made from Kapok
SUAVS
SUAVS is a footwear brand that emphasizes comfort, versatility, and sustainability. The brand’s mission is to create products that allow you to go anywhere and do anything. SUAVS is committed to closing the sustainability loop by creating comfortable, versatile shoes made with a 100% recycled knit derived from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles
Price Range: Approximately $50 – $136
Key Sustainable Features:
- Uses 100% vegan materials
- Donates all extra footwear to organizations such as Soles4Souls and LifeWorks
- Packages in dual-purpose boxes that function as the initial shipping box and return packaging
- Uses an average of 8 bottles per pair in its new recycled knit
Explore Sustainability Certifications and Standards for the Sneaker Industry
- Cradle to Cradle Certified™: This certification evaluates products across multiple sustainability attributes, including material health, reusability, renewable energy use, water stewardship, and social fairness.
- Leather Working Group (LWG): LWG focuses on improving the leather manufacturing industry’s environmental impact by standardizing sustainable practices and promoting responsible leather production.
- Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS): GOTS certifies textiles made from organic fibers, ensuring ecological and social criteria are met throughout the entire production process.
- OEKO-TEX®: This label signifies that textiles, from raw materials to finished products, have been tested for harmful substances and are safe from a human-ecological perspective.
- Global Recycled Standard (GRS): GRS certifies products made with recycled materials, encompassing criteria for environmental processing, social responsibility, and chemical restrictions.
- Recycled Claim Standard (RCS): RCS verifies the presence and amount of recycled content in a product, ensuring the integrity of materials labeled as recycled.
- Braskem I’m green™ EVA: This certification indicates the use of ethylene-vinyl acetate made from sugarcane, a renewable resource, reducing the product’s carbon footprint.
