Everybody owns a pair of those shoes

The leg bone
Is connected to the foot bone,
Is connected to the Export Processing Zones,
And it’s nothing we condone…
But everybody owns
A pair of those shoes.

Million Dead, Holloway Prison Blues

For the ethical consumer, shoes pose a problem. If one wants to buy shoes not made mostly of synthetics, one has two broad options: canvas shoes or leather ones. Canvas shoes are fine for some circumstances, but not for all.

The trouble with leather is that much of it comes from Indian cows that are treated rather badly (I know what you’re thinking: aren’t cows sacred in India? Well, not entirely…) and is then tanned in ways that create substantial water pollution. If you want to buy shoes made with leather from organically-reared cattle, tanned in a sustainable fashion, you’re out of luck.

That may be about to change in 2010. Organic leather company Natureally is working with manufacturers who are hoping to bring organic leather shoes to market. With any luck, this will open the door for more companies to start doing the same.

As for other items of clothing – belts, bags, jackets, hats and so on – it’s probably better to choose items made of sustainable non-leather materials like hemp, organically grown cotton, or wool.