Materials

We think materials are so important we devoted an entire page to them. There is a lot of green washing, half truths and omissions in the eco footwear industry. Here we offer transparency regarding the materials in our all natural, 100% biodegradable boots.

Uppers- "Uppers" refers to basically the entirety of the boot except for the sole and heel. Here we use only vegetable tanned leather- chrome free. It is free of any polyurethane coating (common) and it is dyed with non toxic biodegradable dyes. We sampled leathers from top vegetable tanneries in North America and Europe. We chose to partner with Pergamena Tannery located in upstate New York. It is a small artisanal tannery owned and operated by the Myer family. Their family has been making leather for over 400 years (not a typo). They make world class leather and we are beaming about our partnership with them. We chose their leather for many reasons, but mostly because they were the only tannery that actually had answers to our questions about what was actually in their leather. Many of their hides come from small scale farms where animal welfare is prioritized and regenerative agriculture is practised, some do not. 

Lining- Undyed vegetable tanned leather.

Soles/heels- Undyed vegetable tanned leather, the choice of shoemakers for centuries.

Heel counters/toe puffs- These are inserts designed to give shape and support. We use vegetable tanned leather, noticing a theme here?

Adhesive- This is one of the most problematic and toxic components currently in the shoe industry. We were thrilled to find an adhesive specifically designed for footwear that is made solely from potato starch. This adhesive is used by bespoke shoemakers around the world because of its strong bond and moldability.

100% Linen thread- Instead of sewing our boots with bonded nylon (plastic) we use linen thread. Linen thread was the thread of choice in shoemaking for decades before the invention of bonded nylon. It is the strongest natural thread available and provides the hard wearing durability required for footwear.

Maple wooden pegs- We love these little suckers. We use them like little nails to hold the sole and heel on to the upper. As the peg is driven into the leather it forms a water tight friction fit- we love the way the leather and wood work together to...well, hold it all together. It's a beautiful and time tested technique that shoemakers have been using for hundreds of years. A fully pegged boot is widely considered a masterpiece amongst bespoke shoemakers.

Laces- It was surprisingly difficult to source shoe laces that don't have some sort of petroleum based product in them. We source our 100% European cotton laces from the Struppai Company in Italy.

That's all that is in our all natural boots for now. In the future we will likely be adding natural rubber soles as an option, although they will likely require us to use metal nails as fasteners. Metal is not all that biodegradable but we also think that using metal is not the end of the world.