Best Sustainable Shoes 2025: Eco-Friendly Footwear, Sneakers, Slip-Ons
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.
The climate crisis is real. The statistics are grim. The hurdles are high. But if we learned anything recently, it should be that big things can happen when we all put our heads together, attack a common problem, and commit to making meaningful change.
At a Glance: The Best Sustainable Shoes to Buy Online
One easy change you can make is in your fashion choices — specifically, your . Nowadays, there are newer players like Allbirds and YY Nation, as well as established giants like Dr. Martens, who are thinking outside of the shoebox to make their footwear production more sustainable.
What Are the Best Sustainable Shoe Brands?
From vegan leather to bamboo uppers and upcycled ocean plastic, these shoes aim to make the world a better, safer, and cleaner place one step at a time. Looking for the best sustainable shoe brands online? We’ve rounded up some of our favorites, from casual kicks for festivals or brunch to sneakers that will hold their own during tough workouts and runs.
Allbirds Sneakers
I would walk 500 miles if it meant ending the climate crisis, especially if I got to do it in a swanky new set of breathable and sturdy Tree Runners from Allbirds, the popular shoe brand making footwear from sustainable materials.
The Tree Dashers are concocted from renewable eucalyptus trees in South Africa and sugarcane-derived foam from Brazil. Or, choose the slipper-like Merino wool Runners, cozy Pipers, or puddle-protected Mizzles, you know, if it happened to be raining on this hypothetical quest.
All of this is to say you really can’t go wrong with this brand, which is the antithesis of fast fashion and one of the most transparent big businesses around. Allbirds taxes itself on 100 percent of its carbon emissions annually and labels each product with its personal carbon tally. All their shoes are basically made from wool sourced from healthy, ethical farms, the aforementioned tree parts from Forest Stewardship Council-certified groves, and/or the trademark SweetFoam, the world’s first green, carbon-negative EVA.
YY Nation
Hailing from New Zealand, YY Nation offers some of the most sustainable (and stylish) footwear on the market. They’re a Zero Carbon Certified brand (according to the independent company thinkstep-anz), utilizing clever plant-based materials to make their kicks.
YY also extends its sustainable practices beyond production, encouraging upcycling and clean waste removal. One of our favorites from YY Nation is their bamboo sneaker, available for purchase here.
Cariuma Sneakers
With kicks as cute, cool, and consciously made as Cariuma’s, there’s no excuse for stocking your closet with synthetic sneakers anymore. Supporting this vibrantly colored made-in-Brazil brand also puts you in good company, as Jon Hamm, Pete Wentz, Brooke Shields, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson are among Cariuma’s celebrity supporters.
You can also feel a burst of superiority knowing that for every pair sold, Cariuma’s founders have pledged to not only plant 10 trees in a tipping-point section of the endangered Amazon rainforest but are also paying Indigenous communities who live in said forest to do the heavy lifting.
Currently, Cariuma says 65 percent of the materials they use are 100 percent vegan. Meat-based materials for the leather options are responsibly sourced from Argentina, Thailand, Brazil (but not Amazon areas deforested by cattle ranching), and China, and all of the water used to produce leather and suede is recycled and reused.
Canvas OCAs use organic cotton and the highest purity rubber, and IBIs are crafted from low-impact bamboo and reclaimed plastic.
Adidas
Adidas might not be the first brand that comes to mind when you think of sustainable shoes, but it should be. Over the last few years, the brand has made significant progress in incorporating recycled materials into its popular styles, such as the Adizero EVO SL Shoes.
These kicks are stylish, help protect your feet from discomfort, and according to the brand, “have an engineered upper mesh that lets air circulate.”
Dr. Martens
Dr. Martens leather shoes and boots have been staples in the fashion world for decades, but the brand isn’t afraid to make some changes in the name of sustainability. They now offer vegan options, like loafers, which are made of synthetic leather that uses zero animal products.
However, even though the material might be different, you’re still getting the look, feel, and longevity you’d expect from Dr. Martens. The shoes feature Goodyear-welted lines, heat sealing, and welt stitching, which all help the shoes last for years.
This durability is another facet of Dr. Martens’ sustainability. Things that are meant to last are arguably the best means of being sustainable. The longer your shoes last, the longer it is before you need to buy more.
Veja Sneakers
The founders of Veja set out to disrupt the sneaker industry after they found unacceptable and unhealthy worker living quarters during an audit of a Chinese factory they conducted on behalf of the popular Western clothing brand they worked for in the early aughts. Seeking to build a better business model that protected workers, didn’t hurt the environment, and ultimately produced a higher quality shoe at an affordable price point, they headed to Brazil.
Villagers who live in and off the abundance of the Amazon led to the wild rubber. They met a farming cooperative in the Nordeste that produces their organic cotton without fertilizers or pesticides and by using agroecology, and gave them three-year planting contracts at double-market prices.
Porto Alegre is home to the factory where Vega now manufactures hipster high-tops and vegan trainers. They’ve continued to innovate along the way as their cult following grew, using vegetables to tan leather and creating fabric made out of discarded plastic bottles found on the streets of Rio and Sao Paulo. Now Veja sells in 50 countries and has matched two million pairs to happy feet. They also continue to fine-tune their fair trade and green practices to sleep even soundly at night. They refuse to use banks with branches in tax havens and get their green electricity from Enercoop, which collects it from indie producers.
Atoms Model 000
The Atoms Model 000 is a casual skater-style sneaks that’s 99 percent recyclable, made using materials like recycled brass for the eyelets and antimicrobial copper threads. They’re also 100 percent vegan, so they create fewer carbon emissions than animal-derived products. They also utilize a waterless dyeing process, which conserves the precious resource and eliminates the possibility of toxic runoff into groundwater or soil.
The shoes deserve kudos for reducing cardboard usage by 44 percent by customizing their shoebox design, eliminating receipt waste by foregoing them, choosing BPA-free shipping labels, and setting up carbon-neutral shipping. Also, only stocking three timeless colors 24/7 and handling limited-edition pairs in a made-to-order fashion means there isn’t a lot of wasteful deadstock at the end of a season. But the real reason Atoms is a game-changer we should all be talking about is that they are the first shoe brand to offer quarter sizes for optimal fit. Yeah, we know, mind blown.
ECCO
Ecco’s shoes are Denmark’s best-kept secret, which the entire world needs to know about. They’re lightweight, comfortable, and thoughtfully designed, making them a versatile pick for travel, work, date night, and everything in between. Most of their products have a minimal impact on the environment, with a focus on reducing material waste during sourcing and production.
As for the shoes themselves, think cozy slip-on sneakers and trainers, lace-ups, and slides for men and women, all designed to pair with everything from shorts to jeans to trousers. The shoes are all incredibly breathable, with moisture-wicking properties, letting you go sockless without feeling sweaty or stuffy. The durable outsoles make these great for walking or casual hikes, without putting added stress on your feet.
link
