Ethical Consumer

Ethical Consumer

Buyer's guide to walking boots

   

This is a free buyer's guide from Ethical Consumer, the UK's leading alternative consumer organisation. We research the social and environmental records of companies.

 

More detailed versions of this guide are available. See the links at the bottom of the page.

   

Best Buys as of Sept/Oct 2006

Best Buys logo


As our ratings are constantly updated, it is possible that company ratings on the ethiscore website may have changed since this report was written.


Vegetarian Shoes and Ethical Wares came out best. They both make walking boots suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Of the more mainstream, non-veggie boots, Vaude, Scarpa, Gelert, Khyam and REI do best.


Brand
Rating
Vegetarian Shoes walking boots [A]16
Ethical Wares walking boots [A]15
Gelert walking boots12
Khyam walking boots12
REI walking boots12
Scarpa walking boots12
Vaude walking boots12
Regatta walking boots11.5
Zamberlan walking boots11.5
Asolo walking boots11
Blacks walking boots10.5
Highlander Alpine walking boots10.5
Peter Storm walking boots10.5
Salomon walking boots10.5
Karrimor walking boots10
Hi-Tec walking boots9
Merrell walking boots9
Berghaus walking boots8.5
Brasher walking boots8.5
North Face walking boots8

The higher the rating the more ethical the brand. This whole scorecard was last updated from our database on 14 October 2009 but some individual company ratings may have changed since then. Up to the minute information can be seen by subscribers using Ethiscore.
Learn more about our ratings.

Walking boots - mini report

The walking boot market is dominated by smaller companies. Although many don’t have particularly muddy records most of them aren’t squeaky clean either. Of the brands covered only Vaude, Blacks, Berghaus, Brasher, Hi-Tec, Merrell, North Face and Peter Storm are made by companies with supplier codes of conduct, and none of these are independently monitored and verified. Vegetarian Shoes claims that most of its shoes are made in England and Europe so receives ECRA’s best rating in this category.

Consumers wanting to avoid the animal welfare implications of leather may wish to choose boots from Vegetarian Shoes or Ethical Wares which both make solely vegan/vegetarian footwear. Some readers may be concerned about the environmental implications of choosing synthetic products over leather, especially PVC which Greenpeace considers the most harmful of plastics.
However it must be borne in mind that the leather industry is highly polluting using a cocktail of harmful chemicals including trivalent chromium sulphate, sodium sulphide, sodium sulfhydrate, arsenic and cyanide. Tannery effluent also contains large amounts of other pollutants, such as protein, hair, salt, lime sludge and acids. Investigations into tanneries in India revealed extensive chromium contamination of soils, surface water and groundwater.

Polyurethane (PU) sold under the brand name ‘Lorica’ is a breathable alternative to PVC and is considered less harmful by Greenpeace. Vegetarian Shoes sell PU boots. Ethical Wares sell hemp boots, which may be less sturdy but are a much more environmentally friendly alternative.



   

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