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With greater awareness about the environmental and animal cost of using non-vegan materials, more and more of us are shifting over to a vegan lifestyle.
Sometimes, however, adopting the vegan lifestyle can be a bit difficult. This is especially the case when some of your favorite brands have not shifted over to making vegan products. One brand that a lot of us enjoy using is Adidas. This article will help answer the question, are Adidas shoes vegan?
What do we mean by Adidas vegan shoes?
Before tackling the question of whether or not Adidas’s shoes are vegan, we must first tackle the question of what counts as a vegan shoe. What are vegan shoes?
The most obvious thing here is the material of the shoe itself. A lot of shoes are made with leather which is decidedly not vegan. However, it is worth noting that for adidas vegan shoe to be considered actually vegan, there are a lot more things that need to be accounted for.
One example would be the glue used in the shoe. A lot of high-end glues used in the world are actually sourced from animals. These tend to come from the skin, bones, cartilage, or other organs. If a shoe uses one of these glues then they are not vegan shoes.
Finally, the production process of the shoe is also worth considering. Even if the shoe itself has no animal products on it, the design or manufacturing stage may have utilized animals. This is commonly the case when it comes to testing that is done on animals. If the shoe or its component products were made or refined using animal testing, that also renders the shoe non-vegan.
Is leather used?
The first question that comes to mind is whether or not Adidas’s shoes use leather. This did, unfortunately, used to be the case with a lot of the older models of shoes that were made out of leader and thus not vegan shoes.
Nowadays, however, most of the shoes produced by Adidas use either synthetic materials or vegan leather which is plant-based. It is still worth being careful so we recommend asking the employee if possible or checking the material list itself.
Here are a few decidedly non-vegan shoe materials to stay on the lookout for when picking your new pair of Adidas trainers.
- Full-grain leather
- Raw leather
- Corrected grain leather
- Nubuk leather
- Full leather
All of these materials are non-vegan thus you want to make sure that the model you buy does not contain any of them. Moreover, even trace amounts of non-vegan substances can render the entire shoe non-vegan, thus you should be extra cautious and check thoroughly to ensure that none of these substances are used
What about the glue?
Another source of concern to a lot of vegan consumers is the glue. The first thing to note is that thankfully, most of the glues used nowadays around the world are synthetic. This makes it unlikely that the glue itself is made from animal products.
The bigger concern, however, is ensuring that the glue has not gone through stages of testing on animals. This, unfortunately, still continues to be the case with a lot of glues in the world, especially ones used for industrial applications.
Luckily, Adidas is one of the brands that has stopped using glue that was tested on animals. Due to this fact, you can rest assured that the glue used in your sneakers is indeed vegan.
Are all Adidas shoes vegan?
You may be wondering since Adidas no longer uses glues that are animal-based or tested on animals does this mean that all Adidas shoes are vegan shoes?
Unfortunately, this is decidedly not the case. Many Adidas shoes still make use of real leather which comes from the skin of real cows. Thus it is not possible to go ahead and simply buy any shoe in an Adidas store.
Instead, you will have to ask the employees, check the box, check the tag and preferably even check online to ensure that you are actually getting vegan shoes. There is, however, one slight exception to the rule.
Which Adidas shoes are vegan?
Generally speaking, Adidas’s running shoes are almost always vegan shoes. This is particularly good news if you are a runner and you were looking for running shoes anyways. Even if you are not a runner, these shoes are still really stylish and likely to make a fashion statement anyways.
The reason most of Adidas’s running shoes are vegan has very little to do with the company’s ethical stance and more with the nature of materials. As it turns out, synthetic and plant-based materials are significantly more breathable than animal materials such as leather.
As running is an exercise that involves a lot of muscle exertion, sweat, and heat, having a breathable shoe is a must. Due to this reason, most running shoes are made out of synthetic or plant-based materials which makes them vegan shoes.
One important thing to note, however, is that these running shoes are almost always vegan, not always. Sometimes the shoes may be using trace quantities of animal-derived materials. Particularly inside the shoe where different linings are used.
Due to this, even when you are buying a running shoe that is likely vegan, it is still worth doing due diligence and ensuring that no non-vegan materials are used within the product. In this regard, the box itself and a quick search online may prove helpful.
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Conclusion
Fortunately, as the world progresses, veganism is becoming a larger movement with more people saying no to animal products by the day. Although a lot of brands are yet to catch up and the world is still far away from embracing veganism completely, progress is being made.
Adidas is one of the brands making progress and thanks to this fact it is now possible to find vegan shoes at Adidas that you can wear without the guilt of animal cruelty. However, always remember to do some proper research and ensure that your shoe is vegan before walking out of the store with your new pair that may not actually be vegan shoes.
We wish you the best of luck and happy shopping!
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