Dr. Scholl’s Eco-Friendly Exercise Sandals
March 09 2008
One of our resident EcoStilettoista’s grandmother had fantastic legs. The story in her family goes that in the late ‘30s, her grandmother was walking down the stairs of the boarding house in San Francisco where her grandfather was thinking about taking a room, and he decided to marry her before he even saw her face. In retrospect, that story is a little weird and stalker-ish, but you get the picture. He was, obviously, a leg man. The point of bringing this tawdry little family secret to the fore is that her grandmother wore Dr. Scholl’s Exercise Sandals, and her legs stayed pretty darn fabulous well into her 70s. Coincidink? We think not.
Hence our preoccupation with the chunky wooden soles, which we break out in the spring and wear right through to October. And this year Dr. Scholl’s Original has gone eco-friendly in a big way. The company collects unused buckles, melts them down, and reuses them to make their signature steel buckle. Leather uppers (no, they’re not vegan) are veggie-tanned without chemicals. The outsole is made of corn and biodegradable—you could, according to their press materials, actually eat it. (Giving new relevance to the old phrase that if you’re wrong about something you’ll eat your shoe. Or is that your hat?) And the classic wooden sole is now sourced from sustainable hardwood—plus, through Trees for the Future, they plant 10 trees for every pair sold. The colors are so cute, and the soles are now this oh-so-au-courant dark, warm-colored wood. Can it get any better? Find us some stairs.
