animal friendly

Ethically-made in France, this is an unusual shoe from Thiviers in the hot south. The starched canvas upper is moulded onto a slightly bungee solid foam sole. There's nothing but a piece of towelling between that and the foot - you might want to add an insole - but above the foot is a breathable fabric to suit hot summers.

☺ made in French working conditions and in a welfare state.
♦ all vegan so...
♣ environmentally friendly. Also, European shoe factories have to meet strict solvent emissions standards. This is not made of organic cotton; the sole will not rot in a compost bin.
☼ breathable through the canvas, although not water resistant.

☺ made in France/Amnesty | France/HRW | France/FCO

A short mens' box jacket made in London out of tactile leather-like non breathable material. The person who stitched these together was paid about twenty five pounds per jacket.

☺ made in UK/Amnesty UK/HRW Jobs & working conditions

☺ Ethically-made in France this is an unusual shoe from Fargeot in Thivres in the south of France.
☼ The starched canvas upper is moulded onto a slightly bungee solid foam sole with a thin layer of towelling under foot.
♦ This shoes is vegan and so...
♣ environmentally friendly.

☺ made in France/Amnesty France/HRW France/FCO

Made at a factory in Pakistan that pays a living wage and where a fairtrade premium is distributed to make-up for the lack of a welfare state. At the moment people choose to split payments between health insurance and a micro-credit bank.

• Made in Pakistan/Amnesty Pakistan/HRW Pakistan/FCO

☺ Welfare State shoes made with courts, votes, universal benefits, thick cotton canvas & moulded sole. Supplies are usually from Slovakia with a back-up supplier in Portugal.

In contrast, boots like this were the uniform of the French Foreign Legion and the style is still called Pollonium or similar after the French makers - an international firm is trying to sell shoes like this as a beatnik fashion accessory with linings, brands and floppy turned-over uppers. But these are simply canvas shoes made in a democratic welfare state.

There is a removable bungee foam insole. French Foreign Legion versions had a hemp or matted insole, but a good quality bungee foam insole should be OK for city use.

The default colour is grey-green, but others are available: simply dye them with dylon.

♣ Transported by road in tightly-packed cartons rather than individual shoe boxes. This makes the shoes slightly crumpled when you first wear them but saves pollution.

♦♣ Vegan and so environmentally friendly. The soles of these boots are not compost-able.

These shoes are also available to try-on at VCross, 73 Caledonian Road London N1 9BT two blocks east of Kings Cross Station, facing east, a hundred yards up Caledonian Road. Google map: http://tinyurl.com/vcross .
Size 48 out of stock.

safety features to EN - 345 - 1

breathable microfibre upper material
made in China

steel toe-cap resists impacts of 200 joules with a clearance of 14mm (tested size 42), and crushing forces up to 1,500 kg This is not a protection to the rest of the foot, where impacts often happen
other vegan safety boot features
anti static: resistance when new between 01 mega ohms and a thousand mega ohms, although this varies with wetness and wear
energy absorption in the heel described as above 20 joules on standard tests
water resistant upper with no penetration during an hour of the standard test
penetration resistant over 1,100 newtons to the mid sole on standard tests
anti-slip requirements to Italian standard UNI 8615/1

not incorporating these safety features
not to fire fighting standards
not with heat resistant sole to 300 degrees for 1 minute - a Lorica slip-on boot without much protection but with a heat-resistant sole may be available on order for this
not extra-insulated with temperature decrease less than 10 degrees over a fixed period at minus 20 degrees centigrade
not with foot arch protection, resisting impacts over 100 joules, although the sole is strong
not with water penetration area less than 3 cm squared
not with Kevlar re-enforcement for chain saws

This is a steel toe safety boot with the CE safety certificate stamped on the tongue and a steel toe cap to resist 200 joules compression. More detail is given on safety-shoe page. Please ask if you would like to know if steel-sole boots are available in your size as availability varies: generally we can't get steel-sole in sizes 40 and 45; stock in other sizes is mixed between steel-sole and rubber sole. Customer feedback is that the 44 does as a size UK 10.

Made in Albania. Albanian boots are stocked because of an impression that there is some kind of welfare state in Albania, a fact which is hard to back-up from the links below. Scroll down for rubber safety boots back in stock and a poll about stocking solid-sole safety boots. Some sizes are out of stock till later this year when we should be able to buy direct from the manufacturer.

Please get in touch to be told when missing sizes are available.
Light shoe with no mid-sole and aerated hard rubber outsole on solid patches. Made in the UK, like a cricket boot with a rolling shape & low heel, the shoe causes little damage to turf. This is a great shoe to pack to wear at a meeting, to keep at the office, or to use as a back-up . The upper material is black breathable microfibre glued to a non-woven lining and a thin cushion at the heel. The tartan / foam insoles are removable and can be swapped between your other shoes.

☺ made in UK/Amnesty UK/HRW Jobs & working conditions

• Black top with some batches smeared with mud right out of the box. Recent batches in popular sizes are now black.
• Blobbed with white paint for you to add your own logo with a felt pen A spiral is traditional in Canada where people like to spiral-out US corporate logos, but you could add your own initials or a proposed tattoo or nothing at all if you like
♣ Organic canvas upper woven from hemp stalk fibres in Romania for Ecolution - a company proud of its employment record
♣ Recycled tyre sole.
☺ Made in Portugal - a country with courts votes & (?) free hospitals Employment conditions of staff involve long hours in quite a pleasant place with low living costs There is a good union reference for the factory Unsocial hours are seldom worked
• Web site available for those who are interested in how to "rethink the cool"; older batches include a share certificate in a buying group and a leaflet; newer black batches of boots include an offer of a free issue of Adusters magazine.
• Red spot for kicking Captain Blythe off the Bounty - or whoever similar comes to mind. One review said "The red spots sometimes wear off"

☺ made in Portugal/Amnesty Portugal/HRW Portugal/FCO