To be honest i am not sure why. In my years of synthetic shoe wearing i have come to realize that the materials used to replace leather are far superior to leather. They hold up longer, do not stretch over time like leather, and do a better job of minor water resistance. So much so that most snowboard boots are made of synthetic leathers, so why are skate shoe materials too frequently stuck in the late 1980's?
Because i do this search annually and because i rarely find a simple path for this mission i have decided to pass along a summation of the fruits of my most recent labor to hopefully aide my fellow vegan skaters. Here are some pointers for the 2011 skateboard season to get you started, in no particular order.
Frequently i look to find skateboarders who themselves are vegans and then check out their pro model shoes. This has been extremely helpful over the years. For many years my best bet was Geoff Rowley and his signature shoes by Vans. i have worn his models more than any other over the years. This has changed recently. It seems that Geoff is no longer a vegan and that has impacted his shoe models. You can no longer assume that Rowley models by Vans are animal free. Vans however, does still make some of the popular synthetic Rowley lines such as the "Stripes" and clearly indicates which ones are synthetic in their online shop (where you can view models by athlete: Rowley).
Vans does have many canvas sneakers but in my opinion almost all of these do not give adequate support or protection for use skateboarding. They are more "skate lifestyle" shoes for casual use. Which brings me to the next vegan skater.
Ed Templeton is a long time vegan. In fact reading an interview of his is where i learned that Starbucks can make you a vegan hot chocolate (their coco is dairy free so they can make a hot chocolate with soy milk and you can enjoy, dairy-free). This has caused me to end my long term boycott of Starbucks. If they can support vegans i guess i can support them, from time to time at least.
Tangent aside, let us return to shoes. Ed's signature models are vegan friendly. He rides for Emerica. i have never skated a Templeton signature model because he typically (as is true of this year's model) uses canvas and as mentioned before i prefer something a bit more supportive and protective than canvas. If this is your thing though, enjoy!
With that being said, Emerica's site is HANDS DOWN the most vegan friendly skate shoe site around! With other skaters such as Andrew Reynolds on the team, who is a vegetarian (i believe) many of the models have at least one colorway that is synthetic (ex: the Jinx). Just go to the site, pick the model you like and check out the different color options. If you select one that is animal free (hint: usually the black options) it will say "THIS COLORWAY IS MADE OF ALL SYNTHETIC MATERIALS" in the description.
Recent additions on the vegan shoe front is Macbeth. They have a whole line dedicated to vegans and are clearly marked with a green V above the Macbeth M on the inner sole graphic. Last year i tried out their "Manchester" model. i thought they were very good looking and were quite comfortable but as they were made of canvas i found them less supportive than i would like (particularly for my bad knees) and they wore out a bit quick when skating. They are more along the lines of a converse All Star or Classic Old Skool Vans: very comfortable and appealing for "lifestyle shoes" but i prefer a little more for skating use.
This year it appears that they have experimented with some other synthetic materials for their vegan line, but i have not yet tried any of them. Their site is very supportive of vegan viewers with easy navigation to browse only the vegan lines. They do sponsor skateboarders such as Matt Hensley but these models use animal products.
Lastly comes my personal pick for this year: Fallen. My understanding is that Jamie Thomas is a vegan. When Fallen first started almost all (if not all) of their sneakers where made with synthetic materials. At that time i liked the original Jamie Thomas model so much that i went and bought a second pair right away so that when i wore the first pair out i would not have to go through all the research and searching that i typically go through to get my vegan-friendly skate sneaks. They held up better than any sneakers i have owned and gave impressive support right to the bitter end.
Over the years that has changed and animal hides have become dominant on their sneakers but they too do frequently have a synthetic colorway in many of their models, especially the Thomas models. When looking at the specifics for a given shoe style it will list materials including synthetic for the ones in which it is an option. The difficult part from their site, however, is that it doe not tell you which color is the synthetic. When clicking on the pictures for the given color options i could usually tell which was synthetic by appearance (hint: again usually black). i was able to confirm my assumptions by checking on Zappos, who not only carries Fallen but also list "synthetic" beside the color selection on the drag down menu of models.
i am extremely happy with my personal 2011 selection of the Fallen Chief and hope that i can help you in some way find the vegan skate shoe that is best for you. SKATE without the DIE!
