I
admit when I first heard of vegan shoes, I was dubious that it was
“fashion”. But upon close examination, I was pleasantly surprised at
how current and on-trend these shoes were. Clearly Elizabeth Olsen,
the founder of Olsen Haus is a woman who understands that being good
does not mean sacrificing style. And when I started seeing them on red
carpet celebrities like Cameron Diaz, Alicia Silverstone and Amy
Sedaris, I knew it had hit the mainstream.
A Shoe For Fashionistas to Vegans to Incremental Environmentalists:
Olsenhaus
uses alternative, sustainable and renewable plant based and man made
non animal materials such as: ultra suede, organic cotton, canvas,
nylon, velvet, linen, cork, and a synthetic eco lining. No leather,
fur, wool or silk is ever used.
Olsenhaus shoes have been featured in a long list of impressive fashion magazine from Elle, People, Lucky, Daily Candy, and Nylon. Future plans for this shoe-maven includes growth into an international lifestyle brand for women’s, men’s and children’s lines of footwear, handbags and belts, extending into clothing and beauty products.
The environmental impact of the leather industry:
Olsenhaus believes that fashion companies need to be accountable. The livestock
and leather industry is one of the largest culprits to global warming,
land devastation, environmental pollution, usage of valuable natural
resources and water supply contamination. According to Olsenhaus,
it is a 1.5 billion dollar industry that directly relates to abuse and
death of an astonishing100 million animals from factory farms and
slaughter houses.
From start to finish, the amount of energy required to create a leather hide is 20 times greater than the production of a synthetic material. The production of leather requires the transportation of feed to animals, removal of waste, electricity in housing facilities, electricity for operations and killing, pesticide use, vaccine and antibiotic use, transportation to remove carcasses and transportation of pelts.
The transportation of the hide to a tannery which involves sorting, soaking, fleshing, tanning, wringing, drying, kicking, cleaning, trimming, buffing, drying and finishing. Lastly the hide is transported to the garment maker, then a to wholesaler, and so on. In addition, hundreds of thousands of acres of land are cleared for the raising of livestock.
About Elizabeth Olsen:
Prior to starting her own line, Elizabeth held high profile roles as the former Creative Director at Tommy Hilfiger and designer for Calvin Klein, Bulga, Nine West,
Jodi Arnold MINT, and others. She draws upon her work experiences in
Malaysia, Italy, South American and Asia—to her African safari.
On the West Coast, she's worn the shoes of a print and ad-campaign stylist, and commercial and film stylist. Clients included Nike, Nike Goddess, Nissan, Universal Studios, IBM, and Corbis to name a few. Elizabeth attended the University of Florida studying Art and Art History, and then FIT for Accessories design in NYC.
For over twenty years, Elizabeth has been an outspoken advocate against the use of animals for food, clothing, experimentation, and entertainment, as well as for the environment and social justice. She has been a vegetarian for 19 years and a vegan for the last 2 years.
For more information, visit Olsenhaus.com
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