Sustainable Textiles
100% Cruelty Free + Vegan
Living Wage Artisanal Production
in Toxin Free Safe Work Environments
Female Founded Indie Brands
It's challenging enough to start your own shoe business - but to do it as a BIPOC female founder, and to build each part of the production process ethically from materials to product to labor, is a feat.
Read more on each product page how each founder has built their company to support generational artisans, use innovative sustainable and very luxe materials that are vegan and toxin free. And meet these amazing founders below, they inspire me so.
BHAVA
I met Bhava's founder Francisca on an Innovation in Sustainable Textiles panel in NYC probably a decade ago. We ended up in Costa Rica at the same exact time years later - her visiting family, me running away from my life for a week on a solo trip. She told me then how she started BHAVA. She had been working in the traditional leather shoe industry, until it led her to a health crisis from the toxins she was breathing. She had to stop, quit, live with her family, give up her apartment - and start a new chapter. In this chapter she decided to create her own brand - non-toxic, animal-free, beautiful comfy well made shoes. Her boots are some of my very favorite shoes and I've worn her combat boot in every season. Now I'm so excited to share her lovely shoes for your special day too.
xo Leanne
VEERAH SHOES: STACEY CHANG
By 2014, Stacey Chang knew fashion could be cruelty-free and beautiful shoes could be made sustainably. When searches for designer vegan shoes only turned up crocs, birks and canvas sneakers, she was surprised by the lack of options for stylish non-leather dress shoes. It was clear designer footwear needed a reboot. After spending time studying shoemaking construction in Italy and researching both manufacturing and sourcing companies across Europe and Asia, she found partners who were aligned with her vision.
More committed than ever to create beautiful, ethically designed shoes that today’s mega-tasking and eco-conscious women would love, she launched VEERAH in 2016.