SUSTAINABLE SHOE GUIDE // eco brand recommendations + second hand tips 

I’m sure you must sometimes be grumpy but I just can’t envision you being anything but happy and enthusiastic

I've got my Doc Martens at the age of 15 (?) and I still wear them. Only the laces are replaced. I am 42 yrs now.🤘🏻 And by the way, we had a cobbler nearby at the 80ies and he'd known us by name. But as fast fashion shoes came he was gone, cause nobody needed a cobbler anymore because shoes where no longer vulnerable...😑

I have been religiously watching your videos and you’ve helped me make the choice to begin my Low Waste journey!! Don’t mind me as I go through and like all of the past videos 😂

thanks for speaking about wearing second-hand leather as a vegan! I don't care if it is vegan or not: second-hand it's always the best choice over purchasing something new. I love getting second-hand high quality leather, I I buy it once and it's for life :)

i think another great, very logical but often forgotten thing to consider when buying shoes, especially heels, is your foot shape! for example, i love a short blocky heel but somehow my foot doesn't do well with those. i found that higher heel is actually more comfortable for me and doesn't make my feet hurt like i'm walking on hot coal as it is with lower heels. obviously, the more sustainable shoe will be the one you wear, not the one you buy, and love the looks of but simply don't wear because it's torture. of course, you can try to pad out the uncomfortable ones but makes life easier if that is not necessary.

Gittemary is definitely my fashion icon 😍

I started buying only secondhand shoes a few years ago and-game changer! There are so many great pre-loved shoes out there. I’m always on the lookout for secondhand Adidas.

I'm Brazilian, always searching for new sustainable brands and had NEVER heard about Cariuma until a woman from DENMARK made a sponsored video about it hahahaha what a crazy globalized world... But on their website there isn't even option of our native language (brazilian portuguese), it's kind of sad that is more viable produce for only exportation to developed countries than comercialize in our own :( Ps:, I've been following you for a few years now, always a good day to thank you for the AMAZING content!

Durability is a really big thing with me and shoes- i wear shoes OUT. Let us know how Miret shoes hold up over time?

Looove the embroidered heels! Ya gurl have some very good taste in second hand fashun

Thank you so much for this video, i didn't know that their even are sustainable footwear companies so this video was much needed❤!

Love the video! I love real leather products because of their sturdiness and used products are mostly still in very good condition or can be fixed easily. I recently spend about 50€ to get the essentials to care for my leather products like soap, wax, edge kote, black corrector pen and leather glue and I could fix all those little snags, scratches etc. myself. It also helped me to clean up leather goods I wanted to sell so I quickly got my money for the products back ☺️

Loved to get to know your thoughts about shoes, thanks for sharing!!

You saying that Miret is a croatian company got me like 😳 im from Croatia and literally had no clue about this company !! thank you Gittemarie !! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ i am definitely gonna check them out NOW also, i totally agree with you! i dont eat vegan, but when it comes to buying new things i make sure they are vegan. with clothes, i always prefer trifted leather item over new vegan leather item which is made out of plastic and so overpriced

Thanks for the video 💛💛

Only thing missing in this video is Mols' hair vacuum shoe 🐕

Woohoo , you just made my day better !!

Yeeaahh Doc Martens girl ❤️

Items made from recycled plastics also shed micro plastics.

I'm actually looking for used leather Birkenstock sandals because I know how repairable they are and I use every shoe I have until they can no longer be used.

I really appreciate seeing ideas for how I may consider the waste I produce - your ideas are invaluable. But it has occurred to me that I know very little about how to drive change on a corporate level and I suspect this will be key to the speed and degree of change that is required. I loved watching your video about banks and how they use money to drive change; if you have any further information about driving corporate change, I would be eternally grateful!

I don't mind leather but wanted a shoe that I can resole myself. I ended up choosing a company DuckFeet because they have all leather and natural gum rubber soles and they have replacement soles if yours wear out. They also have wide toe shoes which I totally need. I've been happy with them but they are a bit on the thick side so harder to break in. Working on that with all natural saddle soap. Im going to check out the hemp shoes. I won't use bamboo. Natural grown Flax/Linen I use. Would be nice for shoes too.

You are my shoe icon!! We have so many similar items. I love the leather boots with the low heel and the bratz boots.

That was the most honest shoe video I’ve ever seen! I really loved the way you describe how awful and uncomfortable the stilettos are :D

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS!!! I have been on the hunt for sustainable platform sandals for years. Last year I cracked & bought 2 fast fashion pairs (a white one that had the sole snap by the end of the year and the other a black one just needed the ankle strap resewn) & over the winter all the sustainable brands I could find were too boho for me (nothing wrong with the style, just not for me) or were simple flipflops. Sadly at the start of this season I bought a new white pair but after 2 weeks (7 or so wears for 8 hour shifts at work) the strap got ripped out of the bottom of the shoe! & my ankle strap on my original black pair needs to be resewn again too x.x As much as these purchases' will hurt my wallet it will be lovely to not have to worry about getting a new pair of shoes or fixing them all the time.

Thank you for all your informations! It would be very interesting and fun seeing a closet tour, what you think?! Sending you love from Italy!

It’s great that you have access to a shoe repair shop. It seems to be a dying trade... they are hard to come by. Gurl... those brown & black Oxford shoes that you scooped for a tenner... wow... shopping score of the century!! They are so classy... perfect for you!! 👞 PS - yes, I actually have yoyoing shoes🪀 (they’re just an old pair of fave runners with good traction and they look cool 👟)

Eve from The Mummy an ICONIC reference! 😂

Have to say I really enjoy my Vans but I would like to try Cariuma when my vans wear out

Thank you Gittemary, really helpful. I have a question. What will you do when those plastic shoes or any material for that kind, really can't be worn/repaired anymore. I have some items that I cannot give away/sell as they are too damaged, but I don't want to just bin them. Advice? Love from Spain xx

Excellent video! When I went vegan in 2017, there was no way I was going to get rid of my shoes & boots. I invested in great quality shoes when I was still working in retail. Haven’t bought footwear since 2016. Your shoes with the rose reminded me of a pair I had in ‘81. 5” heels, nice 1” platform under the toes. They made me 6’1”😂. Didn’t fall. You’ll be fine Gittemary! Sending you lots of hugs and love ❤️❤️❤️

Can someone tell me where i can get sustainable shoes for kids or really little feet? I can't find shoes in the "adultsection" that actually fit me but in the childrensection they look like ... shoes for kids.

Ah yes there they are again, the embroidered heels I would die for 😍

The bratz doll boots! 😂

yay!

I’d love to buy secondhand shoes, but I have some really messed up flat feet and finding shoes at all is already impossible for me 😞

What do you think of Hylo Athletics shoes for running?

I have 4 pairs of shoes that used to be my sister’s. She hardly ever wore them and I was able to give them a second life

Do the miret shoes last a long time?

All the vans and converse I have (about 4 or 5 together) were second hand and should shoes last 5 years , or more?

Second ! Love you thanks! And just so you know Vans are going green!

You could try an eraser on your white booties to get the stains out

I fixed a pair of boots with liquid rubber. I put the sole of my winter boots back on with the liquid rubber I bought to seal my roof. They still work

Due to my right above knee amputation I can't wear heels at all :( 1cm is the maximum and it is sooo damned difficult find nice, flat shoes/boots that don't look too eco, lol. I have Espadrilles from the sustainable brand Komodo and a pair of sneakers by PoZu.

Is there any sustainable shoe polish?

Shoes I have a pretty hard time with vintage shoes always fall apart on me it actually happened tonight

I want to get myself slip ons for uni caus imma need them for the 3am fire drills and dont know if i should get a pair or just repurpose my old vans with those elastic shoe laces, which is best?

Anyone else ever join in on the sponsor jingle she sings? lol

I bought a new pair of second-hand shoes a year ago from a sustainable brand (Ecoalf). Well, they have already broken. The snickers are white, they get easily dirty and are very difficult to clean... Maybe I wasn't lucky. I will buy a secondhand nike airforce next time, hahaha.

Great video! I would love to watch a video about tattoos if you would be interested in making one😊

Finding shoes is by far the most difficult endeavour for me when it comes to my wardrobe, or perhaps anything I own, because I am very tiny. I'm 4'10" and my shoe size is women's 4-4.5, kids 2-3, in euro sizes I think that translates to 34 in women's? On top of that, I've stopped buying leather at least 10 years ago. I agree that there are many options now for sustainable and even vegan shoes, but not when it comes to my size. If anyone out there can recommend any that aren't super expensive, please reply! Thank you :)

I’m not sure if this is a topic you’ve covered before but I need help with socks! I find I’m constantly throwing out socks because they’re getting holes or just becoming old, show I just start investing in more expensive socks? X

I've got my Doc Marten s at the

Thank you for pointing out the issues on pleather. I honestly have serious issues with the people who goes vegan for the environment (cutting dairy etc. is fine btw.!) and then wears... pleather. It´s just not sustainable at all. Plastic that crumbles. Breaks. Cracks, just simply falls apart! At the same time preaching and shaming others for not being vegans... At some point I bought a pleather jacket and a pair of pants, secondhand. They did´nt look used and you know, at least it would be. They cracked. In like, a few months. And that´s what happens with pleather; it cracks, breaks and then people throw it out, for the remains of the plastic to be in the world for litterally eternity. And then there´s the issues of toxic plastic in the ground or micro-plastics in the sea... When choosing leather at least it is a natural materiel that´s bio-degradeble and honestly, I feel like if the animal has already been killed... at least do it justice by using every part , rather than just disregarding something as huge as the hives. I honestly think it is the most respectful thing we can do, to use ALL of the animal that`s been killed. At some point hopefully better alternatives will be presented because I dont actually want animals to get killed but from two evils. besides, how would animals survive when all life and nutrients are dead from all the plastic polusion? When it comes to durability there is nothing like leather. When my mum died I enharited her leather shoulder bag, handsewn from the sixties and my dad´s hunters bag, a smaller shoulder/cross body that hunters previously used for ammunition, knife etc., when they went out. Both are in thick, very slightly treated leather and besides a bit of leatheroil/treatment there is no need for maintenence and they have litterally kept up since 1967, looking more and more beautiful as time goes by... they are my absolute favorite bags (next to my secondhand Känken) and just keep standing the test of time. Same thing goes for my trekking-boots and knee-highs. My leather knee-highs are like... 15, maybe almost 20 years old and with the right care, I would imagine they´d probably last a lifetime.

Did you glue the sole of your barefoot shoes?

Since you wouldn't likely use a magic eraser or lemon essential oils to get the scuffs off your white boots Id imagine there has to be a more sustainable hack.

Has anyone who isn't an influencer successfully sold anything on a second hand app like vestiaire or depop. I don't have a social media following and it seems like without that, you're second hand items will never be found, seen by buyers, or sold.

gittemary I love your videos, but I think you should look up how to pronounce sneakers ;)