Call a bandwagon a bandwagon if you must, but Naya isn’t just a fresh-off-the-presses line of eco-friendly wedges, heels, and flats. It’s also a ringing endorsement that the sustainability movement is doing something right. The first company-owned brand launched by the billion-dollar Brown Shoe Co. in 10 years, Naya joins established sibling brands like Dr. Scholls, Buster Brown, and Via Spiga, as well as the Famous Footwear chain of stores.
STEPPING OUT
Comprising vegetable-tanned leathers (vegans, avert your eyes!), bamboo heels, organic fabrics, cork footbeds, and biodegradable latex-foam cushioning, Naya’s inaugural collection of 11 styles are expected to retail from $110 to $130—definitely more spendy than your usual megabox fare and just marginally cheaper than leather-clad kicks from ethical footwear purveyors like Terra Plana and El Naturalista. (Naya’s shoes are made in China under unspecified labor conditions.)
Naya uses vegetable-tanned leathers, bamboo heels, organic fabrics, and cork footbeds.
While the jury is still out on whether mass-market eco-fashion brands do more harm than good, there’s something to be said about lower-impact designs that could raise public consciousness, even if it’s just a smidge. Our provisional verdict? We won’t knock ‘em until we try ‘em.
Naya will be available online at Zappos, Piperlime, and Planet Shoes, along with brick-and-mortar stores such as Dillard’s and Nordstrom.
how about we stop using leather in general? what sense does it make to call a product “eco-friendly” if there is still leather involved? even Ecouterre itself posted about Elizabeth Olsen’s arguments for why leather can never be eco-friendly. calling leather-products (even vegetable-tanned leather!) “ecological” is almost contradiction in terms.
I agree with Renu. I get very excited when I see a tweet that says “eco friendly” shoes – and they are leather. It’s a disappointing experience and makes me less likely to click on future “ecofriendly” tweets. Maybe add “leather” in the tweet even though its 7 characters. Love your site and content overall.