What are Ethical and Vegetarian Trainers?

But a small shop in Brighton is changing all this. Robin Webbs Vegetarian Shoee have set out to create the holy grail of ethical clothing- trainers, shoes and boots that are animal-free, made in Europe and look great.

Robin puts his success down to a brief encounter with a lorry driver on the M1. While hitch-hiking he got chatting about the difficulties of making shoes without leather. Canvas wasn't practical for the British weather and plastic shoes lack ventilation. Making them uncomfortable and, let's face it, pretty smelly. The lorry driver told him about a recently imported Italian material that was as strong, breathable and flexible as leather, but made from a mixture of polyester and polyurethane.

After this lucky break, Robin began making and selling shoes. Today business is booming. High profile customers include Paul McCartney, who wore a pair of Robin's shoes on the front cover of his "Paul Is Live" album. Business is so good the Robin can now no longer just make one pair of shoes a day. Instead he sends his designs to factories , but is careful to keep them as people-friendly as possible. He refuses to use factories in less developed countries where labour and production costs are low. Instead Vegetarian Shoes only use factories in the UK and EC and are proud to include the oldest co-op in England as one supplier.

The environmental impact of clothing has not been forgotten. Some lines are 70% biodegradable and Vegetarian Shoes have recently brought out hemp skate shoes. These classic skater style trainers have hemp on the front and sides to "help ventilate the shoe and save the planet!"

But the best thing about Vegetarian Shoes are definitely the styles. From Dr Martins to Birkenstocks, high heeled boots to loafers a huge range of shoes are covered. The trainers come in old school, street and skate, as well as wombat shoes for a smarter look.

As for the future, Vegetarian shoes are looking into creating vegetarian football boots and more sports trainers to provide an alternative to the big brand's exploitation of animals, people and the environment. For vegetarians it's time to heave a sigh of relief - at last there is no need to compromise on comfort, style or ethics.

Davinos Greeno works for the organic beer and green electricity directory that lists 100s of Organic and Ethical Companies