Fed up with the lack of stylish, good quality, non-leather footwear on the market, Natalie Dean decided to put her frustration to good use and in 2001 founded Beyond Skin, a line of vegan shoes for women. “In the past, attempts to combine fashion and ethics generally resulted in one side of the equation being sacrificed.
British brand Beyond Skin counts Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway as fans and is re-launching in the U.S. for fall. Standout styles from the 100 percent vegan brand include an over-the-knee suede boot made from recycled PET bottle caps (something only used by Mercedes and Jaguar) that dries quickly and doesn’t watermark. Made in Spain using mostly Italian fabrics, Beyond Skin’s suggested retail ranges from $114 to $197.
Footwear designer Elizabeth Olsen of Olsenhaus made a guest appearance on the fourth episode of Bravo TV’s new reality series “The Fashion Show,” posing the weekly Harper’s Bazaar Mini Challenge and putting the apparel-focused contestants to a real test: designing an eco-friendly shoe using only vegan materials—a trademark of Olsen’s line. “It was a total hoot,” she says of the taping experience.
