Shoes with a Message

Groove, Swell, Love, Truth, Karma – with names like these, customers can expect nothing less than chic and funky designer shoes from the brand Olsen Haus. Yet at the same time, you get a sense that the person behind the label is serious about standing by the brand’s philosophy of producing only 100% cruelty-free goods with “a high standard of ethical and social responsibility in animal rights, human rights and the environment”.

Indeed, founder and designer Elizabeth Olsen has been an active member of animal advocate organisations for over twenty years. At 15, after seeing a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) pamphlet, she immediately started an animal rights club in her high school.

On what inspired her to design vegan shoes, Elizabeth says, “The main inspiration for designing my own line of vegan shoes was to create a source of style that wasn’t being filled in the market and to use that as a way to get information out about animals”.

Olsen Haus is a brand which selling stylish vegan shoes to satisfy the fashion needs of eco-conscious consumers.

Vegan Shoes

For Elizabeth, coming up with Olsen Haus is her way of “combining the love and inspiration of art, design, color and texture and merging it with (her) passion for saving animals and the environment,” she said in an interview.

According to her, 'The leather industry is more harmful to the environment than the textiles, medicine, fertilizer, and paper industries. Tanneries’ waste contains large amounts of not only chromium, bleaching agents, oils, salts acids, alkalis, and dyes, but also other pollutants such as protein, hair, salt, lime, sludge, sulfides, and acids. There is nothing biodegradable about leather, or fur, it is treated with caustic chemicals to stop the biodegrading process. In addition billions of animals suffer every year.'

Her response is to ensure that all the brand’s products are “made of non-animal materials in sample rooms and factories that are personally checked for ethical practices and environmental impact”.

The company, striving to use organic and sustainable materials whenever possible, is also urging factories and suppliers to use more recycled materials and safer processes.

Cool, Funky Option

Olsen Haus shoes - ankle boots, platforms, heels and wedges - are made with 100% non-animal materials, and are best known for their signature clean lines and unique patterns that come in vibrant hues, conveying an artistic vibe. The majority of the materials used are sustainable, and based on plant fibres. They use ‘ultra suede' (a suede-like polyester based fabric, made from petrochemicals or recycled PET), organic cotton canvas, cotton prints, linen, and nylons. The soles are a composite of rubber.

Olsen Haus is striving to use organic and sustainable materials whenever possible.

For example, its Luck Boots are made of Italian ‘ultra-suede’ with hand painted non-toxic silver splatter motif while the Swell peeptoes are created with vintage cotton print fabric with a cute wooden round button.

So what’s next for OlsenHaus, which has been gathering a buzz in the fashion scene?

“Lots of continued growth of the women’s and children line, and I’ll be launching a men’s line soon as well. I’m looking for investors to get into clothing and food and of course further supporting organizations pushing for the animals – PETA, Farm Sanctuary, and the Humane Society,” says Elizabeth.

© EcoAsia 2009