Choo On This
What makes a designer innovative? Jimmy Choo are apparently one of the best known shoe brands in the world (although to be honest if I had to list brands of shoes I would never have thought of them). I noticed today that they have a new collection of trainers on sale – although upon reading what they’re made of I almost wanted to throw up. Top of the collection is apparently some purple sneakers that feature exotic snakeskin & suede. Sure, the purple colour looks nice, but… that’s all. At a cost of nearly £400, it’s a small price to pay for the lives of innocent creatures. Elsewhere on their site they include other shoes including ladies sandals. They say, ‘These glossy elaphe snake sandals are guaranteed to make a statement’. Um… yeah, that statement would be ‘animals suffered for these shoes’.
Thankfully there are companies such as Macbeth, that shine so much brighter than Jimmy Choo. They have previously produced vegan shoes such as ‘The Hunter’, a shoe designed by vegan bassist of AFI, Hunter Burgan, and ’45 RPM’, a shoe designed by Green Day’s Mike Dirnt. Now, Macbeth have a new vegan shoe which is a collaboration with Zu Boutique, the awesome vegan clothing company founded by Davey Havok (AFI). No snakes or cows were harmed in any way for these items. No skins or hides were ripped from the backs of any animal. Not only are these shoes 100% vegan and cruelty free, but they’re also super-hot looking and very stylish. In a sexy cyan blue or black, these iconic sneakers sparkle with rhinestones (see pic below). Oh and the price is much nicer too.
So yeah, what makes a designer innovative? I’d definitely put Davey Havok and Macbeth in a league above the likes of Jimmy Choo. They are what I see as perfect leading lights in the fashion world. The future is cruelty-free, not filled with abuse and affliction. What say (ch)you?
