Vegan Basketball Shoes

burbo

Hey there,

I've been looking for some vegan basketball shoes, but it seems like basketball shoes these days don't say any of the materials that are in them. Does anybody know of some decent high top basketball shoes that are not made with leather?

Tox

Why would you eat basketball shoes?

Element Brian

http://www.zappos.com/vegan

muh?

Karrmer

Tox wrote:

Why would you eat basketball shoes?

Wearing leather is just as bad as eating a steak to a vegan. I don't think it's too hard to understand why.

Donovan Puppyfucker

But what about the animal products in the other components of the shoe? The glue holding it together, the rubber the sole is made of, dyes and plastics used...

SmokeStacks

chrishallett83 wrote:

But what about the animal products in the other components of the shoe? The glue holding it together, the rubber the sole is made of, dyes and plastics used...

Cows are in everything. Literally, every thing you use ever.

That deodorant you're wearing? Cow parts.
The shaving cream you used this morning? Cow parts.
The toothpaste you brushed your teeth with? Cow parts.
The soap you used to wash your clothes? Cow parts.
That nice scented candle your girlfriend bought and left by the tub? Cow parts.
Your linoleum floor? Cow parts.
The seats in your car, the antifreeze in the engine, the glue that holds it together, the tires, and the asphalt they drive on? Cow parts, cow parts, cow parts.

I would assume that the only way a Vegan could possible live with themselves is by limiting their exposure to animal-derived products, not eliminating it. If that were the case, he wouldn't be posting on this webforum since the plastic in his computer more than likely uses cow parts.

I would also assume that a shoe labeled as "Vegan" would find alternative glues and rubber compounds that were made from plant sources.

Delzhand

Or maybe, just maybe, since it's impossible to eliminate animal parts from modern life, the OP chooses to eliminate them where he's most aware of them, or been recently made aware of them. Just because you think there's a bit of cognitive dissonance in the vegan mindset doesn't mean that trying to eliminate meat and leather is a bad place to start.

Enc

http://www.zappos.com/men-sneakers-athletic-shoes/CK_XARC81wE6ApAPwAEC4gIEAQcYAg.zso?s=goliveRecentSalesStyle/desc/

Found this by searching "Vegan Shoes" in google and looking for thirty seconds.

The real question is finding vegan basketballs.

Form of Monkey!

Well, the benchmark in vegan sneakers has always been Converse's Chuck Taylor All-Stars (aka Chucks.) They've been adorning the feet of the counter-cultural for almost 100 years because they're inexpensive, stylish, and--to people who value that feature--made from canvas with a rubber sole. Animal friendly.

Even though Chucks used to be literally what basketball players would wear a long time ago, I respectfully submit that shoe technology has come a long way since then, and if you were actually playing basketball for an extended period of time with these shoes on, you could experience issues with poor arch support or a loose fit. It could even open you up to ankle sprains that could have otherwise been prevented.

Since Converse was bought up by Nike, the company's basketball product line has improved so that they still offer the vegan-friendly canvas and rubber materials, but in newer Converse-branded designs that net you a better-fitting shoe that won't destroy your feet. That should be where you first focus your search for animal-friendly basketball footwear, is on shoes based on the classic Chuck look and materials, but that are more updated for you as well.

Djeet

A lot of New Balance shoes have synthetic uppers, but they don't have any mid/hi-top options. Chuck Taylors are canvas, but they're pretty shitty basketball shoes IMO.

Edit: Sorry, not sure why it didn't show me FoM's post before I posted. Weird.

Tox

Karrmer wrote:

Tox wrote:

Why would you eat basketball shoes?

Wearing leather is just as bad as eating a steak to a vegan. I don't think it's too hard to understand why.

Sorry, was having a bit of fun with the phrasing.

Still, canvas/cloth shoes will generally be free of animal by-products.

burbo

Thanks for the tips everyone. I think I will look to Converse, because I play bball 3-4 times a week and going with those zappos shoes (which I was aware of, but really are not basketball shoes to be honest) or Chucks would be terrible on my weak ankles.

And I know that anybody wanting to do anything vegan style for some reason always makes people want to debate ethics, but as far as that goes, I think that Delzhand was pretty succinct about things. Nobody can be perfect, we all have to live our lives, but just because you can't be perfect doesn't mean you can't try and minimize your impact wherever you are able.

bowen

As succinct as it was, if it was at the expense of your own health I'd wish you'd reconsider. Good luck, converse is probably your best bet.

Dr. Frenchenstein

i think most basketballs these days are synthetic, so i wouldn't worry there.

Burtletoy

I played Ultimate Frisbee indoors at college once in some all-stars. On the basketball courts.

When we were done that night the entire bottom of both my feet were the biggest blisters I'd ever seen. Couldn't walk normal for, like, 2 weeks.

I suggest not using converses.

ArbitraryDescriptor

I'm finding a lot of synthetic leather basketball shoes from all the big athletic shoe names, are you just looking for something more explicitly vegan?

Example:
http://www.mademan.com/mm/10-best-basketball-shoes-support.html

I don't know how trustworthy that site's opinion on shoes is, but 4 of those use synthetic materials.

burbo

I think with basketball shoes I will have to go with something that just doesn't use leather (or suede, or whatever). I'm not sure that such a thing exist where they took the care to worry about any glue, dyes, rubber etc. containing any animal components but still works as a functional and high performance basketball shoe.

Thanks for the link ArbitraryDescript. A lot of shoes talk about their synthetic parts as part of the description, but then some other piece of it is often not. For example, the toe cage and various accents and stuff are often not leather. So its not quite that easy, but those are definitely good things for me to take a close look at.