Upgrade Your Sneaker Game with Compostable, Plant-Based (and Designed-in-Vancouver!) Kicks

The locally founded and based Native Shoes is tackling sneaker waste one small step at a time with its latest release.

Screw your recycled-plastic and organic hemp sneakers: Vancouver’s Native Shoes is doing one better in the realm of eco footwear with the launch of what it’s calling the world’s first 100-percent biodegradable, modern plant-derived shoe.

Dubbed the Plant Shoe (no beating around the bush here, folks), the unisex kicks are composed of an upper made from carded pineapple husk, organic cotton and eucalyptus; an organic-linen sockliner with a kenaf and corn-felt insole; a cork-and-sisal midsole; and a natural lactae hevea outsole, which is crafted from refined hevea milk that (who knew?) apparently makes for a very comfy, lightweight and shock-absorbing base.

There’s also olive-oil-soaked jute threads, a natural latex-based glue and 100-percent organic cotton laces thrown into the mix, which makes the entire pair of shoes vegan and completely consumer compostable. In other words, you can throw these babies into your green bin once they hit the end of their lifespan and rest assured that they won’t be festering in a landfill for the next 100 years or emitting tiny pieces of plastic into our waterways.

The kicks themselves don’t look too bad, either, with their go-with-everything nude tones and monochromatic laces (very Yeezy Season 2), which will hopefully help you get the most bang for your buck considering one pair will set you back $250.

The Plant Shoe is now available online and at Native Shoes’ Vancouver flagship (14 Water St.) while supplies last. The vegan shoe brand was founded in Vancouver in 2009 and is known for its lightweight kicks for men, women and children, many of which are crafted from a waterproof, rubber-like material called EVA.