Vegans with AppetitesVegan Fashion
The internet is full of conflicting information about whether Converse are vegan or not. In fact, it's a subject that has divided the vegan movement for quite some time, which is why we thought we’d get to the bottom of it.
The main reason why this is such a debated topic is that Converse hasn’t been very clear about which models of their shoes are vegan. In fact, they don’t even list the materials they use on their website.
Because of this, a lot people have reached out to Converse for an answer, but their responses have differed.
On several occasions, Converse has tweeted back to people that all of their canvas sneakers are vegan.Meanwhile, other people have been told that Converse can’t guarantee that any of their models are free from animal-based products.
It’s weird, we know.
So what is actually going on and are Converse vegan? We personally reached out to the company to find out, and their answer surprised us.
Here's Converse Response About Whether Their Shoes Are Vegan in 2020
With the risk of making the debate even more complicated, we decided to contact Converse ourselves. We thought they should be able to provide insight about which materials they use just like other major sneaker brands such as Adidas and Vans.
We started off by contacting Converse in the US, and they responded with the following:
Answer from Converse US, July 2019:
"While most of our materials are animal-by-product free some components may contain non-vegan materials, so we are unable to certify any product to be vegan. We apologize if this prevents you from being able to wear our product.
Converse does not maintain a non-animal list of products due to the vast product line Converse offers. Depending on the style, the shoes may contain leather or synthetic materials and in some cases both."
We were back at square one and decided to contact Converse in the UK instead hoping they might be able to shed some light on the matter.
Their response was surprisingly different.
Answer from Converse UK, July 2019:
"I can fully understand that you would like to know if the items on Converse.com are vegan and I am happy to provide you with more information.
First of all, all our glues are synthetic and non-animal based. All our canvas, Chuck Taylor All Stars styles are vegan-friendly.
While the majority of our materials are animal-by-product free, the products could be manufactured in a facility which could contain animal-by-products. This means that our non-animal based shoes are manufactured in a factory that also produces leather shoes. In result, it is not possible for us to advertise our products as being truly Vegan (the same knife that is used to cut a leather shoe may be used to cut the materials on the shoe the consumer is interested in).
Chuck ‘70 was moving to a leather embossed patch, and updating the logo on the bumper plate sock liner, so the CTAS ’70 is no longer vegan.
We use a number of factories that produce our shoes (we sell roughly 100 million pairs a year) so we do use more than one factory to produce the same style. While this map doesn't show exactly which countries produce which style, it does give an idea of the variety of countries we work in.
Furthermore, there is no difference in the production of Converse sold within Europe and the US.
For further information, just check our chemistry list, so here you can also have more information.
We will take your feedback and let our production team know that there is a demand for a “Certified Vegan” shoe.
Should you need any further help, just let me know."
And there you have it. Confirmation directly from Converse that they do offer vegan Chuck Taylor All-Star models. They even promised to raise the concern to their production team to hopefully make it even more clear in the future.
So what did their response tell us?
- Converse only uses synthetic glue for all of their shoes
- Chuck Taylor All-Stars are vegan (but ensure you only stick to canvas styles)
- Chuck Taylor 70's are not vegan
- The production and materials are the same worldwide, despite what Converse US claims
Converse’s Recent Vegan Collections
Read Next: The Ultimate Vegan Sneaker Roundup
In the past few years, Converse has done some interesting collaborations, and many of their limited edition models are vegan.
For example, in 2018, Converse started a collaboration with Miley Cyrus and being the fact that Cyrus is a dedicated vegan, all the shoes are certified cruelty-free. The same goes for the very popular collaboration with professional skater and long-time vegan Kenny Anderson.
In connection to the third season of the Netflix show Stranger Things, one of the main actresses, Millie Bobby Brown, launched her own collection of vegan Chuck Taylors featuring animal prints.
Moreover, Converse was recently inspired by the Adidas and Parley for the Oceans partnership and launched their own modern version of the Chuck Taylor with fabric made entirely out of recycled plastic. The recycled shoes is supposedly also completely vegan.
Are Converse Vegan? Here's The Final Verdict
After having contacted Converse twice, we are convinced that we finally have an answer. Most Converse shoes are vegan as long as you stick to the regular canvas Chuck Taylors as well as several of the vegan Converse collections.
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