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Ethical Sneakers: Why Greenwashing Is Everywhere in Vegan Sneakers
Today, vegan sneakers, eco-friendly sneakers, and ethical sneakers have become very popular. More and more brands are promising responsible, durable, and environmentally friendly products.
But with this trend, greenwashing has also grown. Some brands use terms like comfortable vegan sneakers, unisex vegan sneakers, or eco-friendly sneakers for women and men simply to improve their image, without their products actually being manufactured responsibly.
At Mood Walk, we created our vegan shoes with the opposite idea:
not to follow a trend, but to offer comfortable ethical sneakers, made with innovative materials and transparent production. We have truly and sincerely sought to minimize our carbon footprint by optimizing material choices, using plant-based biomaterials, and manufacturing in a family workshop in Portugal, which we have visited several times and where we know that artisans are well paid and work in ethical conditions. We wanted stylish, unique sneakers that we could be proud of in every way: composition, manufacturing, design, and solidarity with a commitment to donate to an association close to our hearts: Toutes à l’école.
To choose good vegan sneakers, it is therefore essential to understand what lies behind marketing promises to distinguish sincere approaches from genuinely ethical brands and brands that resort to greenwashing.
What is greenwashing in vegan sneakers?
Greenwashing consists of making people believe that a product is ecological when it is not really.
In the world of eco-friendly sneakers, this can take several forms.
Some brands sell vegan shoes without animal leather, but made with highly polluting synthetic materials.
Others talk about unisex ethical sneakers or comfortable vegan sneakers, without explaining where and how they are produced; they are sometimes manufactured on the other side of the world under unacceptable working conditions.
It also happens that brands use words like sustainable, responsible, or ecological without providing concrete evidence.
At Mood Walk, we have chosen a different approach:
to clearly explain our materials (composition, origin), our manufacturing in Portugal, and the choice of our corn leather to offer truly comfortable vegan sneakers, designed to last. We have even added a solidarity commitment through our contribution to Toutes à l’école for the education of girls in Cambodia, a country where the founder carried out a humanitarian mission and to which she returns regularly. For each pair of Mood Walk ethical sneakers purchased, €2 is donated to Toutes à l’école.
Why eco-friendly sneakers have become a trend
The demand for vegan sneakers for women, vegan sneakers for men, and unisex eco-friendly sneakers continues to increase.
Today's consumers want shoes that are more respectful of the environment, but also more comfortable and durable.
This evolution has led many brands to offer ethical sneakers, but not all make the same efforts.
Some use eco-marketing as a selling point, while others, like Mood Walk, genuinely develop comfortable vegan shoes, with innovative materials like corn leather and European manufacturing.
Result: it becomes difficult to distinguish a truly responsible vegan sneaker from a simple trendy product that uses the greenwashing argument.
How to recognize true ethical sneakers and avoid greenwashing
To choose truly comfortable vegan sneakers, you need to look at several criteria:
materials, manufacturing, transparency, and quality.
A good pair of eco-friendly sneakers for men or women is not limited to the absence of leather.
It must also be durable, comfortable, and manufactured under good conditions.
This is the philosophy we follow at Mood Walk by creating ethical sneakers for men and women, designed to be worn every day, without compromising style, comfort, and responsibility.
Check the materials used in vegan shoes
A true pair of vegan shoes must use alternatives to animal leather, but also limit polluting materials.
At Mood Walk, we have chosen to use innovative corn leather, which allows us to create comfortable vegan sneakers that are resistant and suitable for women's, men's, or unisex models. We opted for "corn leather" because we believed it had the highest percentage of plant-based materials, and it was also the most resistant and comfortable material. We also tested other biomaterials made from grapes or apples, but the carbon footprint, aesthetics, and comfort were not as satisfactory.
This type of material allows for the design of eco-friendly sneakers with:
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less environmental impact
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good durability
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comfort suitable for daily use
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more responsible manufacturing
We also produce our ethical sneakers in Portugal, in specialized workshops, to guarantee quality and transparency, far from the greenwashing often present in the fashion industry.
Choosing Mood Walk vegan sneakers is not just choosing shoes,
it's choosing a pair designed to last, comfortable, and truly more responsible.
