Shoes

Day 36: Shoes

I "needed" a pair of black slip-ons.
I wanted some Birky rip-offs.
Cork = good (reusable)
Chinese leather = bad (unregulated effluvia)
Synthetic rubber = mixed reviews

I don't do drugs. I don't gamble. I don't drink (much). But I found myself sneaking the two new pairs of shoes from DSW into the house when no one was looking. I hid them in plain view, on the shoe rack. I made a futile attempt to exculpate myself by putting six other pairs of shoes into the growing Goodwill pile.

The effort was futile because, just like everything else I'm learning about during this stuff project, it turns out shoes have a big environmental, economic and social cost. My new shoes were made in China. Most likely, so were yours. 84% of our shoes are. As usual, we are the gluttons at the table: Americans buy an average of almost seven pairs of shoes a year compared with a world-wide average of about two and a half. Worst of all, some shoe factories still use child labor.

Sigh. 

I just can't stop buying shoes. Not an option. No way.

On the plus side, these trashed, ill-fitting,
outgrown shoes will have a useful afterlife.

Furthermore, I'm not going to limit myself to those few companies - Timberland, Simple, Keen and (surprisingly!) Nike, for example - that are working to minimize their impact. But there are some things I can do. First, instead of mucking the chickens, pulling weeds or shooting hoops in whatever shoes I happen to have on, I'm keeping a pair of rain boots by the back door. (I even bought them used!) That ought to prolong the life of the shoes I already have.

Second, I'm firm in my resolve not to buy any shoes that do not fit perfectly, no matter how cute, or how cheap the clearance price. At least two of the shoes in the Goodwill bag were cheap, cheap, cheap - but not quite right. I should have skipped it.

Third, I'm going to check out the used shoes on eBay. 

After all, you can never have too many shoes.