Hey pals,
I feel more and more guilty about buying clothes and shoes from brands with hidden working conditions.
A lot of my clothes are second hand, leather/suede/wool free, so in my mind it is OK.
But still, I usually skate Chucks, which are owned by Nike, and really this make me feel bad.
Do you guys have infos about working conditions for skate shoes ? And what about clothes ? I know a lot of Polar stuff are made in Portugal, but it is just the printings ? I know they used to use Guildan shirts, and I guess those are not really ethical...
I also discovered this UK clothes brand, Piilgrim, which seem very nice.
https://www.piilgrim.com/about-1
edit: oh, and also, I've seen that on my Instagram feed the other day and found it very cool :
Pas posted photos and videos (insta stories, if I remember correctly) from his visit to the SoleTech factory:
Though it's hard to judge working conditions from the photos, at least they are not afraid to show what their factory and workers look like.
SoleTech's skate teams, products and overall contribution to skateboarding aside, I support them for the following reasons:
- Environmental initiatives:
https://soletechnology.com/Pages/Environment.aspxTheir Vietnam factory seems to be following these initiatives as well:
- They give out thousands of pairs of shoes to the homeless every year.
- "Buy a shoe plant a tree" program.
They are still skater owned and Pierre and Don Brown seem like nice people.
I don't think that there is an alternative to soletech in this day and age. So next time consider buying indicators instead of chucks. I haven't skated either of them but indicators might be a good option for someone who likes chucks.
Also, coming back to the vegan skate shoes topic, purchased etnies jameson x sheep recently. Few sessions in and they feel great so far. The extra rubber on the toe does make them look like they could last a while with some shoegoo on the ollie/heelflip area.