Manolo the Columnist
Manolo says, here is the Manolo’s latest column for the Express of the Washington Post.
Dear Manolo,
I’ve just been hired to work at a firm that specializes in “green design”, and now I’m looking for a fabulous pair of shoes that won’t have my co-workers throwing red paint on me and denouncing me in office meetings.
Marta.
Manolo says, every revolution has its Jacobins, and while the Manolo is all in favor of taking care of the environment, he is more than the little suspicious of those committed fanatics who would crush our individuality under their free-range, all-natural, hemp and raffia jackboots.
If you were to listen to them and be as strict as possible, you would have to give up the made-from-animals leather, the made-from-oil plastics, the made-from-rainforest rubber, and the non-organically grown cotton and flax. All you would have to wear would be shoes made from reeds that you had gathered yourself from along the riverbanks near your cave.
But you do not look good in bulrushes and cattails, and so you begin to compromise, and next thing you know, you’re wearing thigh-high pirate boots fashioned by Chinese prisoners from the skins of pandas and civet cats.
There must be the happy medium, yes?
Look, here are the cute and eco-friendly Baldaci Ballerina flat from Timberland, made from the soft suede, environmentally raw materials, and recycled yarns.
February 15th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
(Laughing out loud). Thanks for the giggle, Manolo!
And when I first read that, I thought you said it was made from recycled yams.
February 15th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
an excellent choice (and one I never would have found myself) framed in your ever-entertaining style.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
But, but, the suede, it is made from the skin of the dead animals, no? Recycled yarns or no recycled yarns, surely this fact alone would incur the flinging of the red paint, would it not?
February 15th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
They’re already red, so a bit of red paint won’t hurt them
February 15th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Is there no shoe made from recycled plastics, bamboo, recycled rubber, even recycled leather? I wonder what those vegan boots that resemble Doc Martens are made out of.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
These should be posted in Basement of the Bargains. The last pair I purchased were on sale.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I recommend the Terraplana shoes, eco-friendly and quite attractive
http://www.terraplana.com/
February 15th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
These should be posted in Basement of the Bargains. I have two pairs of these shoes - they are very comfortable and wear well. They are a little snug the first wearing but very quickly conform to one’s foot.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Bravo! It brings such happiness to see Manolo dispensing so much of the wisdom.
February 16th, 2008 at 3:08 am
I know vegans who carry their “spiritual” crystals around in suede pouches and principle-based vegetarians (as opposed to health-based ones) who smoke like chimneys. I always delight in reminding them that cigarettes are tested on animals.
FWIW recycled leather is not worth purchasing, but BYPRODUCT leather, made from the skins of animals slaughtered for other reasons, is more acceptable to those who oppose animal cruelty. Lambskin, for instance, doesn’t generally come from lambs slaughtered for meat, but rather from a completely different kind of lamb. The carcasses are discarded or made into pet food. Pigskin, on the other hand, generally comes from animals who were already dead; in this way, pigskin is effectively recycled rather than discarded. Too bad it stinks when it gets wet.
February 17th, 2008 at 10:25 am
“BYPRODUCT leather, made from the skins of animals slaughtered for other reasons”
How about python?
February 17th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
You might also consider Natalie Portman’s collection for Te Casan. Fashionable and cruelty free.
February 18th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Well, if you eat the python, I suppose that’s fine. Or, if you’re a big-game python hunter or something. But Steve Irwin had very ugly shoes.
There used to be a restaurant in my old neighborhood that served rattlesnake. As a friend of mine said, “I LIKE the idea that someone is killing these things!”