Business

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Monday, October 20, 2008 Good shoes for the feet and the Earth Footwear brands at The Walking Company in Alderwood mall are stylish, comfortable and earth-friendly. By Christina Harper Special to The Herald Walking the "green" walk has become a whole lot easier thanks to footwear manufacturers that are making a fashion statement by improving carbon footprints. You can pair earth-friendly shoes with your Prius at The Walking Company at the Alderwood mall. The Walking Company sells a variety of shoes, boots and clogs that are planet friendly and comfortable to wear. "People who sit down and try them on feel they are very comfortable shoes," said Ron Bishop, store manager. The store recently hooked up with the Sierra Club for a summer promotion dubbed "Think Smart, Be Planet Friendly," which focused on eco-friendly products. Green footwear is made by companies including Ecco, Mephisto, Merrell and Keen, whose shoes can be thrown into the washing machine to be cleaned. Mike Walker, vice president of marketing for The Walking Company, is charged with letting customers know what's new and unique in the world of footwear. Simple Shoes approached the store with an eco-friendly and sustainable shoe called Planet Walkers. The shoes are made with low-chrome leather, bamboo, cork and ground-up car tires. But clumpy ugly shoes Planet Walkers are not. There's a jumper style for women that comes in a merlot color and resembles a flat Mary Jane style, which cost $120, as well as men's slip-on and laced shoes, which run about $140 a pair. Leather used for Planet Walker shoes comes from tanneries that have pledged to run their operations in a environmentally sensitive fashion. "The brands we carry have been right at the forefront of improving the process from an environmental standpoint," Walker said. Ecco brand shoes are also featured at The Walking Company. Ecco uses leather inlays and recycled fiber cushioning. Mens Ecco shoes are priced between $160 and $200 a pair. Besides using environmentally friendly materials, manufacturers are working to improve the disposal and reuse of water at their plants. And many use vegetable tanning processes for coloring footwear for consumers. "They've come a long way in the tanning process," Walker said. "(They're) adopting a greener process with vegetable dyes instead of chemicals." Factories use bio fuel instead of diesel, hand-sewing techniques, and hemp or recycled bags and boxes, many of them glue-free. "It's much easier to slap something together with a toxic glue than hand stitch," Walker said. Some shoes at the Alderwood store are designed exclusively for The Walking Company. The broad range of eco-friendly footwear comes from shoe companies that have been around from years as well as new ones in the arena. "They are really good shoes, not just really good-looking shoes," Walker said. Walker says he finds in his travels that consumers say that the environment is a factor in their choices, but quality is a top priority. "Buying shoes that are bad for your feet, your knees, your hips and back (is) not a good value at any price," Walker said. Christina Harper is a Snohomish County freelance writer. She can be reached at harper@heraldnet.com.

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