Product Review: Blackspot Shoes
August 20th, 2010 Posted by Jessica. Published under Gear + Product Review. No Comments.
Here’s a newsflash: there are zero shoes made in the United States anymore from materials manufactured in the United States. Converse is owned by Nike (and manufactured in sweatshops all over Asia); Adidas are made in sweatshops in Cambodia; New Balance has some shoes made in the US– but 75% of them are made in China (presumably in sweatshops)– and the materials are imported from “foreign sources” (I’m guessing imported from foreign sweatshops?) . When I was looking for new shoes last February, this bugged the hell out of me. I wanted shoes made in America! With our economy ‘sploded, I wanted to make sure my shoes were manufactured ethically while simultaneously supporting America’s workforce. Doesn’t get much more patriotic than that! I thought I’d found just what I was looking for in No Sweat Shoes: union-made shoes manufactured in America by American material (and they were even vegan!). But alas– they went out of business in January of this year.
Frustrated, I began my search for ethically-made shoes manufactured outside of the United States. The first shoes that came to mind were TOMS Shoes. However, not even TOMS Shoes quelled my fears about the ethics of their production, with its factories in China, Argentina, and Ethiopia. It claims on its Website: “We require that the factories operate under sound labor conditions, pay fair wages and follow local labor standards.”–which is exactly the line that Nike and Adidas provide in an attempt to cover up their dismal factory conditions– because different countries have different labor “standards” in the name of exploiting workers for capital. Sure, perhaps I’m wrong and TOMS Shoes factories are excellent places of employment– and TOMS, if you’re reading this, please set me straight– but I really didn’t want to take any chances. Full disclosure of your factory conditions on your Website would be greatly appreciated, TOMS.
Then I stumbled across Blackspot Shoes. With the fabric made of 100% hemp, vegan glue holding the soles (which are made with rubber tapped from ethically-grown rubber trees in Brazil) together, all profits from the shoes benefiting various non-profit campaigns and the independent shoe retailers, and a fully disclosed description of the unionized factory in Portugal in which they’re made (seriously– check out the link– it breaks it all down), I knew these were the shoes for me. These Blackspot shoes are, without a doubt, the most sturdy tennis shoes (or for you Yankees, “sneakers”) I’ve ever owned. Typically my shoes have holes in them by month three. Especially in New England weather. I’ve worn these every day for almost seven months and there’s not even a stitch loose. They keep my feet dry in the rain, grip my bike pedals exceedingly well, and have retained the same shape after all these months. Yes, they’re a bit pricey at $75– but with my old sweatshop shoes, I would’ve gone through two pairs at this point. AND that’s the price you pay to not contribute to the abuse of underpaid workers in sweatshops. I’ve been told they look like shoes Elmo would wear, but Elmo doesn’t wear shoes.
