{"id":14771,"date":"2012-08-20T11:38:27","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T17:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=14771"},"modified":"2012-08-20T11:38:27","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T17:38:27","slug":"tyvek-shoes-sneakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoes Made from Tyvek: Does Durability Make a Product Sustainable?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/unstitched-utilities-tyvek-shoes.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-14772\" title=\"unstitched utilities tyvek shoes\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/unstitched-utilities-tyvek-shoes.jpg\" alt=\"unstitched utilities tyvek shoes\" width=\"500\" height=\"509\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/unstitched-utilities-tyvek-shoes.jpg 500w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/unstitched-utilities-tyvek-shoes-294x300.jpg 294w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/unstitched-utilities-tyvek-shoes-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tyvek shoes &#8211; sounds like something you&#8217;d expect to find in a Devo video, and nowhere else &#8211; right? Nope: startup shoemaker <a href=\"http:\/\/unstitchedutilities.com\/\">Unstitched Utilities<\/a> makes a wide range of casual shoes from the material more commonly associated with <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.dupont.com\/Tyvek\/en_US\/index.html\">envelopes and home wrap<\/a>. When the company offered me a free pair of their &#8220;eco-friendly vegan sneakers&#8221; for review, I took them up on it: been looking for a pair of casual shoes, and I&#8217;m a big fan of the classic sneaker look.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been wearing the shoes on and off for a few weeks, and also digging into the company&#8217;s claims that their footwear is &#8220;eco-friendly&#8221; and &#8220;sustainable.&#8221; As with an awful lot of products, those labels simplify more complicated truths about the materials used in the shoes. But I do like the shoes, and think there are sustainability angles that Unstitched Utilities might want to consider as it moves forward with marketing its unique footwear.<\/p>\n<h3>Are Plastic Shoes Really Sustainable?<\/h3>\n<p>That&#8217;s a good question, and one my fellow IM blogger Becky Striepe <a href=\"http:\/\/feelgoodstyle.com\/2012\/08\/20\/are-tyvek-shoes-eco-friendly-you-decide\/\">covered well today at Feelgood Style<\/a>. Many of Unstitched Utilities claims about the eco-friendliness of their footwear come down to the recyclability of Tyvek, and that&#8217;s a claim that many of my fellow greenies would find problematic (to say the least). Those aren&#8217;t the only &#8220;green&#8221; elements of the shoes: others include<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>their vegan friendliness: no materials that come from animals;<\/li>\n<li>their use of 20% recycled rubber in the outsole;<\/li>\n<li>their use of low-toxin materials like water-based glues and plant-based dyes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Is this enough to call them &#8220;sustainable?&#8221; Probably not. However, I do think these shoes will likely hold up for a long time&#8230; and that&#8217;s certainly a point in their favor.<\/p>\n<h3>Products that Last are Green(er)<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tyvek-sneakers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14773 alignright\" title=\"tyvek sneakers\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tyvek-sneakers.jpg\" alt=\"sneakers made from tyvek\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tyvek-sneakers.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tyvek-sneakers-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tyvek-sneakers-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tyvek-sneakers-186x186.jpg 186w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Forget all the plant-based dyes and recycled rubber: these shoes strike me as incredibly durable. In that sense, they stand outside the norm of the fashion industry (which generally wants you buying new items as often as possible). Combine this with the classic styling of most Unstitched Utilities models, and you&#8217;ve got shoes that are sustainable in one sense: you&#8217;ll be able to wear them for years to come.<\/p>\n<p>I do like these shoes: they&#8217;re nice looking, light weight, and comfortable. I would recommend buying a half-size up: my pair is bit tight (though not enough to make them unwearable). And they&#8217;re reasonably priced: my <a href=\"http:\/\/unstitchedutilities.com\/products\/mens-shoes\/next-day-low-0\">Next Day low sneakers<\/a> normally go for $65.<\/p>\n<p>So, what do you think? Does Tyvek immediately move these shoes into the greenwashed column? Or does durability plus the other green features put Unstitched Utilities on the right track? Share your thoughts with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tyvek shoes &#8211; sounds like something you&#8217;d expect to find in a Devo video, and nowhere else &#8211; right? Nope: startup shoemaker Unstitched Utilities makes a wide range of casual shoes from the material more commonly associated with envelopes and home wrap. But can you call shoes made from plastic &#8220;sustainable?&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":14772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,13],"tags":[442,523,504,5967,5968,300],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Does Durability of Tyvek Shoes Make them Sustainable?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My new pair of Unstitched Utilities sneakers are made partially from Tyvek. Does the use of a plastic undercut their green claims?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does Durability of Tyvek Shoes Make them Sustainable?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My new pair of Unstitched Utilities sneakers are made partially from Tyvek. Does the use of a plastic undercut their green claims?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/unstitched-utilities-tyvek-shoes.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"509\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\"},\"headline\":\"Shoes Made from Tyvek: Does Durability Make a Product Sustainable?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/\"},\"wordCount\":446,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"eco-friendly\",\"plastic\",\"shoes\",\"tyvek\",\"unstitched utilities\",\"vegan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Products\",\"Sustainability\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/\",\"name\":\"Does Durability of Tyvek Shoes Make them Sustainable?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"My new pair of Unstitched Utilities sneakers are made partially from Tyvek. Does the use of a plastic undercut their green claims?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shoes Made from Tyvek: Does Durability Make a Product Sustainable?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\",\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\"},\"description\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the founder and editor of sustainablog. You can keep up with all of his writing at Facebook, and at Google+\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jeffmcintirestrasburg\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Does Durability of Tyvek Shoes Make them Sustainable?","description":"My new pair of Unstitched Utilities sneakers are made partially from Tyvek. Does the use of a plastic undercut their green claims?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Does Durability of Tyvek Shoes Make them Sustainable?","og_description":"My new pair of Unstitched Utilities sneakers are made partially from Tyvek. Does the use of a plastic undercut their green claims?","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_published_time":"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":509,"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/unstitched-utilities-tyvek-shoes.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/"},"author":{"name":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30"},"headline":"Shoes Made from Tyvek: Does Durability Make a Product Sustainable?","datePublished":"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00","dateModified":"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/"},"wordCount":446,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["eco-friendly","plastic","shoes","tyvek","unstitched utilities","vegan"],"articleSection":["Products","Sustainability"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/","name":"Does Durability of Tyvek Shoes Make them Sustainable?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00","dateModified":"2012-08-20T17:38:27+00:00","description":"My new pair of Unstitched Utilities sneakers are made partially from Tyvek. Does the use of a plastic undercut their green claims?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/tyvek-shoes-sneakers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Shoes Made from Tyvek: Does Durability Make a Product Sustainable?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30","name":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/36b723ef9244464afe2e59d68b238a07?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg"},"description":"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is the founder and editor of sustainablog. You can keep up with all of his writing at Facebook, and at Google+","sameAs":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org"],"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/jeffmcintirestrasburg\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14771"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}