1. Nisolo

Nisolo is a B-Corporation is an ethical shoe brand committed to paying living wages across their supply chain. The brand also launched a Sustainability Facts Label, modeled after the nutrition facts label for food products. And Nisolo has shoe reclamation + donation program. NIsolo’s shoes are made from high-quality Leather Working Group-certified leather.

Conscious Qualities: Pays Living Wages, Shoe Reclamation and Donations

Price Range: $ – $$

Check Out Nisolo

2. Christy Dawn

Christy Dawn creates swoon-worthy sustainable clothing and accessories — including their elegant recycled leather sandals. The brand’s signature sandal is designed for functionality and versatility. Simple enough to wear for casual outings while elevated enough to rock to weddings and other special occasions.

Conscious Qualities: Recycled Leather, Ethical Production

Price Range: $$

Check Out Christy Dawn

3. 1 People

1 People has sustainable flat sandals as well as block open-toe heels. Their chic sandals are crafted with Global Organic Textile Standard-certified dyed Piñatex® (pineapple leather) or VEGEA (grape leather) for their uppers and Global Recycled Standard-certified Eco Suede for the linings. The block heels are made from Tung Oil-treated and responsibly-harvested teak wood. Even the 1 People logo plate is made from recycled brass!

Conscious Qualities: Vegan, Recycled & Natural Materials, Supply Chain Transparency

Price Range: $$-$$$

Check Out 1 People

4. Good Guys

Looking for a sustainable alternative to Birkenstocks? Look no further than Good Guys! This vegan brand has buckled slide-ons and cross strap sandals made with materials like Appleskin (a vegan leather alternative made partially from apple waste), cork, and even linings made with corn. The sustainable slides are made by artisans in Spain and are skillfully crafted with arch support too.

Conscious Qualities: Vegan, Recycled & Natural Materials, Artisan-Made in Spain

Price Range: $$

Check Out Good Guys

5. Rothy’s

The shoe brand that made waves with their ultra comfy recycled flats has a gorgeous selection of sandals, too.

Rothy’s uses recycled plastic bottles for their footwear. While I’m typically not a fan of using recycled plastic in fashion, it can make sense in footwear which necessitates durability (and shoes aren’t as prone to releasing microplastics compared with commonly washed textiles).

Conscious Qualities: Vegan, Recycled Materials, TRUE Platinum certified for zero waste practices

Price Range: $ – $$

Check Out Rothy’s

6. ABLE

ABLE is an ethical shoe brand taking transparency to a new level with their Lowest Wage Challenge, where they publish not just their average, but their lowest wages — and challenge other brands to do the same. I actually visited ABLE’s headquarters in Nashville and really admire what they’re doing in this industry! I do wish they had more environmental sustainability initiatives, though.

Conscious Qualities: Ethical Production, Supply Chain Transparency

Price Range: $ – $$

Check Out ABLE

7. CANO

CANO is a fair trade shoe brand with durable, vegetable-tanned leather sandals. Each pair is crafted using certified chromium-free leather, rubber crepe for the soles, and upcycled airplane tires for the outsoles. The brand’s shoes are handmade in by artisans who work in family-owned shoe manufacturing facilities in Mexico. The artisans earn fair wages, work in safe conditions, and do not work shifts longer than 8 hours.

Qualities: Fair Trade, Vegetable Tanned Leather

Price Range: $

Check Out CANO

8. Brother Vellies

Brother Vellies is a Black-owned sustainable accessories brand founded by Aurora James with the goal of celebrating and sustaining traditional African artisan techniques. The brand now sources from artisans around the world who create timeless, quality shoes from conscious materials like vegetable-tanned leathers, recycled tires, hand-carved wood, and natural dyes.

Conscious Qualities: Artisan-Made, BIPOC-Owned, Vegetable-Tanned Leather (not clear if all leather is veg-tanned)

Price Range: $$$ – $$$+

Check Out Brother Vellies’ Sandals

9. Deux Mains

Featured in the likes of Vogue, InStyle, Marie Claire, Deux Mains is a stylishly sustainable brand with ethical sandals and accessories using locally sourced and upcycled materials. Deux Mains pays their artisan partners fair wages and is working to preserve the local craftsmanship in the areas they work.

The conscious sandals are made in a solar-powered factory using upcycled tire soles and inner tubes and leather. The type of leather used in the sandals is not specified if it’s vegetable-tanned or chrome-tanned, though.

Conscious Qualities: Fair Trade, Some Upcycled Materials

Price Range: $

Women’s Fair Trade Sandals | Men’s Sandals

10. Indosole

Indosole creates vegan flip flops from recycled tires, which helps reduce the 1.5 billion tires that end up in the landfill each year while also avoiding the production of new resources. For the uppers of the flip flops, Indosole uses organic canvas, banana leaves, and grass. The B-Corporation pretty much checks the box for every value: sustainable, ethically-made, and vegan! And compared to many other conscious shoe brands, the prices are affordable too.

Conscious Qualities: Ethical Production, Recycled Materials, Vegan

Price Range: $

Check Out Indosole

11. NAE Vegan

Nae is a vegan shoe brand producing sustainable sandals from natural materials like cork and piñatex (faux leather made from discarded pineapple leaves) and recycled materials, such as rubber from car tires. When browsing their selections, note that there are also some synthetic materials used such as OEKO-TEX Certified microsuede which aren’t as ideal.

Conscious Qualities: Vegan, Plant-Based and Recycled Options

Price Range: $ – $$

Check Out Nae Vegan