Have you ever stopped and considered what you were buying before you press the add to cart button?

Do you ask yourself anything about who made them, where they are coming from, and why you're choosing that specific item?

If you don't, you should start thinking about it. Your consumer power can go a long way, so buying something of low quality or from a company that has poor working conditions just keeps them doing the same thing.

Keep reading to learn about why choosing ethically crafted items, specifically when buying shoes, is so important.

1. Better for the Environment 

When you choose to buy ethical shoes, you are making a conscious choice to help out the environment. The ethical aspects behind the shoe-making process ensure that it is more sustainable than companies that are not creating ethically-sourced shoes. There are fewer chemicals, less water usage, and less production overall since it is usually handmade and of higher quality.

When it comes to ethical fashion, it takes recycled materials and materials in need of repair and reuses them to be more eco-friendly.

2. Support Local

Often, when you buy from a local company, you are making a statement that you only want to purchase locally-made items. This means that you are not only supporting small businesses but also the people behind them. It's more than just supporting the business you are buying from; it’s also supporting every other human and business that backs that business.

Buying local also means that you are reducing emissions from any shipping that would have been in the picture otherwise. 

3. Create Safe Working Conditions

When you purchase a product without knowing how that company treats its employees, you could be supporting something that is unethical and immoral.

Many times, large companies try to get as much of the profit as possible out of their products. To do this, they do not put much money into the manufacturing process. This can create dangerous working conditions that can sometimes become fatal due to fires, machine malfunctions, factory collapse, and more.

Typically, the more a company wants to produce to maximize products means that they do not spend time checking the factory and its conditions.

By choosing to buy quality new shoes that are made by ethical companies, you will understand the working conditions because of the transparency of the company.

4. Supports Fair Compensation for Workers

Just like bigger companies may not make their factories safe, they are more likely not to pay their workers fairly. This helps them to maximize their profits.

When you as the consumer know the best shoes to buy, you are helping the workers who created the shoe to be fairly compensated. One of the biggest reasons that fair trade companies came about was to make sure that their workers had fair pay.

Additionally, fair trade companies often choose to work with local artisans or people with a special craft. Buying shoes from these companies ensures that these local artisans are receiving money and compensation for their beautiful creations.

5. High-Quality Designs

When you buy ethical shoes, you are reassuring yourself that you are buying from a place that has high-quality designs. Most products that are ethically designed are made of strong, durable, organic materials that last much longer than any of the fast-fashion materials.

Most fair trade designs are also handmade, so someone took the time to make them how you receive them.

If you know this about a product, it is more likely that you will also take better care of your new shoes than if you were to buy them from a larger distributor where it was not handmade.

6. Reduce Water Usage

Did you know that the fashion industry is the second most intensive industry for water usage each year? One pair of jeans can use over 10,000 gallons of water during production.

Think about how many pairs of jeans you have and multiply that by 10,000. And then on top of that, know that every other piece of clothing also used a ton of water. It's a pretty crazy number, right?

Well, when purchasing from ethically crafted sources, you know that they are trying to reduce their water usage. The idea is that since they create comfortable and durable shoes (or other clothing items), they reduce the number of shoes that someone needs. With higher quality, this should also help reduce water usage from constant clothing turnover. 

7. Safer Products

Many everyday products that consumers purchase have toxic chemicals and other harsh additives in them like formaldehyde, chlorobenzenes, and harsh dyes. In the fair trade sector, every part of the production is overseen to ensure that they find alternatives to pesticides, chemicals, and other harsh toxins that are usually found in clothing and textiles. GMOs are also prohibited in the fair trade sector, so you know you are not getting that if you purchase ethical items.

From the agricultural aspect to the finished product, buying fair trade and ethically sourced items ensures that your products are safer for your use.

Buying Shoes? Know Which Are Ethical

After reading this article on buying shoes, you may be ready to completely ditch all aspects of larger companies and only shop with local and ethical companies.

If you're ready to find high-quality and comfortable shoes, we have your back! Check out our collection made by Ghanaian artisans. Their beautifully hand-crafted designs will have you wearing your new shoes every single day.

The best part? You know that they are ethical shoes.