Vegan skate shoes

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

I hope all of the above is true (but have massive doubts) …

[Fitspire]

Skatedeluxe and Bluetomato both have the Busenitz Cups in their Lineup and both say Leather, Synthetic Material and Suede.

[Chalupa]

I hope all of the above is true (but have massive doubts) …

It’s hard for me to tell the difference between synthetic and real suede by pictures, but the synthetic leather on any shoes I’ve had have always been smooth. The grain pattern looks like real leather.

[mike_o]

I've seen texture in vegan leather. My wife is also vegan and has a couple of purses that do a pretty darned good job at replicating it... actually looks very similar to what these shoes look like. But just knowing Adidas, I'm erring on the side of this being mislabeled. I mean, they haven't really been very vegan friendly with the Busenitz line, why would they start now. Happy to be proven wrong, though! I'd love a vegan colorway of the Glenburn, I like the look of that shoe, or a Busenitz vintage (or any cup model), but not getting hopes up.

Perhaps @intendedreceivers could confirm, I believe he works at Adidas.

[Chalupa]

^
With the vegan leather that Adidas used on the Orchard Sambas and black/black Superstars from a couple years ago, there was a visible grain but it couldn’t be seen in photos. I agree that there are vegan leathers where the grain is visible even in photos, but those are usually used in more expensive items like loafers made with grape leather. I doubt Adidas would use vegan leather, especially the better stuff, without increasing the price.

If no one confirms before Wednesday, I can confirm what’s on the materials tag since I’ll be in a different city where the skate shop has the Pros in stock.

[kneebone]

Here's something interesting: the product descriptions (in addition to the Details section) are different for the supposedly synthetic version:



That being said, earlier this year I bought a pair of Gazelle Golf shoes because it said they were all synthetic. Even the materials symbols on them were all diamonds, but I'll be damned if they aren't animal suede. They look and smell exactly like animal suede. So basically, I don't trust adidas.

[kneebone]

fuck it, adidas has free returns. I ordered a pair of the busenitz pro and the gazelle ADV in the supposed synthetic colorways. Will update here when I receive them.

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

Good work guys!
I could see the busenitz potentially being synth because as mentioned, the always collab and orchard collab had synth leather, but the campus and gazelle are pretty unlikely imho due to the texture being suede like…
Plus 8 out of those 10 or so gazelle colorways are listed as synth, when have adidas ever done that? That campus adv color and the mid sole looks mint though and I would gladly cop 3 pairs if proven wrong 😑

[Fitspire]

Is there any vegan Cupsole out there right now that is a bit beefier than the 440v2 for example, but not as puffy as most soletech shoes?
Preferably in an all black colorway but would also be willing to recolor them.
I got the synth all black Superstars but theyre a full size too big for me, laces choking, heel slip etc.

Can't find anything right now, maybe someone has more infos.

Thanks in advance.

[Chalupa]

Is there any vegan Cupsole out there right now that is a bit beefier than the 440v2 for example, but not as puffy as most soletech shoes?
Preferably in an all black colorway but would also be willing to recolor them.
I got the synth all black Superstars but theyre a full size too big for me, laces choking, heel slip etc.

Can't find anything right now, maybe someone has more infos.

Thanks in advance.

The all black synth Crickets from IPATH would be it, but you said it’s hard to get that brand in Europe.

You could order the hemp Catalyst 2 from Beautiful Planet, but I’m willing to bet you hate the silhouette.

If you’re open to non-black shoes, the Emerica Mute in the olive colorway is the closest. It’s padded, but not as much as the Heritic or Marana. The tongue is puffy but not as much as an Accel or Dunk.

If you can find the Adidas x Always Pro Model and color the stripes, that could be an option, but a lot of people complain about the shinyness of the synth patent leather.

[Fitspire]

Ipath is too pricey with shipping and BP is not my kind of style.
I also dont want to run around with weed shoes, no offense though.

Adidas Always collab only possible via resell.

The Mute could be an option but its not really the silhouette im looking for.
So sad there are so few options with cupsoles...

Guess i have to continue torturing my achilles tendonitis with 440s then

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

Perhaps if someone see's these in real life they can check the materials tag, as I'm not sure I believe this... but the World Cup editions of Busenitz cup and vulc both show as synthetic uppers on the Adidas website (whereas all the other colorways of those shoes say some combination of leather/suede and synthetic). I find it hard to believe, and it's not like they haven't mislabeled things in the past.

https://www.adidas.com/us/busenitz-vulc-ii-shoes/HQ4711.html

https://www.adidas.com/us/busenitz-shoes/HQ4708.html

Also noticed a couple of other skate colorways that showed as synthetic only uppers:

https://www.adidas.com/us/campus-adv-shoes/KI5725.html

https://www.adidas.com/us/gazelle-adv-shoes/KI3208.html

Update: campus ADV unfortunately is a no go, I just had a shop in Japan (who listed them as synth) send me a picture of the white tags that list the details when you buy a new shoe and it confirmed that the upper is a mix of animal and synth …
Now we just need to confirm the gazelles and busenitz which @kneebone is doing

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

Ipath is too pricey with shipping and BP is not my kind of style.
I also dont want to run around with weed shoes, no offense though.

Adidas Always collab only possible via resell.

The Mute could be an option but its not really the silhouette im looking for.
So sad there are so few options with cupsoles...

Guess i have to continue torturing my achilles tendonitis with 440s then

eS just dropped an all Kevlar accel, but only limited to 333 pairs.

What about the emerica OG-1 in grey? It’s a pity the low top superstar always adidas got co-opted by fuccbois because it’s superior to the shiny one imho. If adidas is your thing, blondey’s shoes don’t seem to be too expensive these days, if those clear joints aren’t your thing he also did a gazelle (even though it also has some shiny panels) which didn’t get much hype and thus you can find them cheap. I recently found some 2nd orchard sambas that are pretty much brand new, but they are too thin. Village PM also didn’t work for me because they are vulc … but yes, pretty sad state of affairs. Did anyone in this thread ever try these? https://esskateboarding.com/products/accel-navy-grey-5101000215-407

[kneebone]

Periodic reminder that Switch & Signal only carries vegan shoes. Pretty sure you can find an example of a mid-puff cup amongst these https://switchandsignalskatepark.com/product-category/shoes/?orderby=date

[Chalupa]

I got someone to take a picture of the materials tag of those Busenitz Pro.

[mike_o]

Thanks for confirming. Didn't have high hopes but still a bummer. So many companies could be a lot better about their labeling, but aren't. Adidas has always been one of them...

Puma doesn't offer us vegans much, but one thing they do well is providing exact materials for each model/colorway. https://us.puma.com/us/en/pd/suede-classic-sneakers/399781?swatch=01 (look at the materials section, as the photo I uploaded isn't showing)



For now I'll be sticking with 440v2s.

[kneebone]

I got someone to take a picture of the materials tag of those Busenitz Pro.

I just received my order, tag on both the Busenitz and the Gazelle ADV is identical to this one posted by Chalupa. Incorrect product description on the website, confirmed.

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

Apparently one vegan busenitz colorway is too much to ask for ….

[Chalupa]

Apparently one vegan busenitz colorway is too much to ask for ….

It would have been marked up a little if it was synthetic. The non-collab Superstars that were all black were $110 compared to leather or suede ones which go for $100.

You will probably have to wait for a collab to get a synth Adidas model. I guess Blondey burned through his colorways that his contract covered since he hasn’t had a shoe in a while.

[Fitspire]

Just ordered a Blondey Superstar on StockX, 80€ is absolutely fine.
Now i need to figure out how to color the TPU upper, Toecap and Sole in all black.

If that works somehow im good for now.