Prod_Find: Sustainable Converse Alternative

Lately, I've been changing the questions I ask when I'm buying products like clothing and shoes. Instead of which color to get, I'm thinking about where the item was made, who made it, and how were they treated. I'm also thinking about what the product is made of, and what resources went into the material's production.

When I needed to replace my worn out Converse sneakers, I read the label and found that they were made in China, where labor practices are notoriously poor. After some searching online, I found a sustainable Converse alternative, made by a UK company called Ethletic, and distributed by Autonomie Project, a purveyor of organic, sweatshop-free, vegan products.

The sneakers are made with fair-trade certified organic cotton, and the soles are made of FSC-certified all-natural and sustainable latex. Their site notes that this means that "the rubber was tapped from a tree in a well-managed and growing forest, rather than being made from chemicals, like other rubber products." The rubber growers and the shoe-stitchers both receive a fair-trade premium.

As far as cost, the sneakers are $54.00. Typical Converse sneakers run from $40 to $60. The price for this pair might be a few dollars higher than the Converse pair I was considering, but I'm willing to pay the extra money. I wore my last pair of Converse for three years, so the extra bucks on this end to ensure fair labor and sustainability will be more than amortized over time.

Autonomie Project also sells plain cotton tees in women's and men's styles for $16--a great deal on staple of my wardrobe--plus printed tees and baby clothes. They have a terrific blog that serves as a resource for fair trade news and consumer tips.