TVs as fashion statements? Designer Elizabeth Olsen thinks so.
Everyone these days is upgrading to thinner, flatter, more powerful televisions. Plasma, LCD and even 3D television sets are making headlines all over the world, and quickly driving old analog sets into oblivion.
You might think that dismantling and recycling are the only options for these worn-out “tubes” but designer Elizabeth Olsen has devised a way to turn trashed television sets into stylish vegan footwear that will make fashionistas everywhere take a second look.
Olsen’s label, aptly named Olsenhaus, has released an entire fall/winter collection of pumps, wedges, stiletto booties and knee-highs that feature an innovative polyester microfiber made from trashed television screens.
Many vegan shoe designers opt for faux leather to create their non-animal fashions, but the use of these petroleum-based fabrics is just deplorable. To Olsen, phasing out petroleum-based faux leather in favor of something more sustainable is the logical next step in vegan fashion.
If you think that these shoes are going to be bulky and clunky like the televisions they’re made from, think again. The entire collection is sleek and stylish, without so much as a hint of the hazardous electronics that were used in its creation.
“The incorporation of industrial waste shouldn’t be perceptible to the naked eye. The product needs to have substance to it, so you have to explain yourself or people would never know it was a) vegan or b) made from recycled TV sets,” Olsen told Ecouterre.
Now Olsen is also experimenting with a shoe sole made from recycled rubber mingled with sawdust, and a heel derived from ground-up recycled-plastic pellets.
JZ @ carpets for kids
November 12th, 2010
Now, this is something that a lot of people never expected! There are no traces whatsoever that they’re made out of old TV’s! Great job to the company for coming up with this line. I’ll show this to my wife because I’m sure she’ll love it.
I can’t believe that it’s not made of pure leather.
Veganline.com 1" vegan court shoes made in UK
November 13th, 2010
Olsenhouse.com sell changing fashion at a premium. Their materials costs are next to nothing compared to a $270 price tag for the shoe in the picture.
Veganline.com’s new court shoe is made in UK working conditions using decades-old tooling in a classic shape, and sold through a DIY website from a home-based business. The upper is another 2mm gloss-coated Toray microfibre that includes a bit of nylon, and the price tag is $78 delivered to the USA. Environmentalists can still choose surface mail which costs $73. If you can try on any UK-sized shoes anywhere before ordering or feel confident with UK-US womens’ shoe size conversions, these are the real-life every-day shoes to buy after window-shopping the Olsenhouse ones.
Tisha Hudson
December 6th, 2010
Thanks for the article and the comments from veganline.com. The shoes look lovely, and the idea is happy and refreshing. But the $270.00 price tag is unrealistic and maddening for most of us … especially for so many who strive to conserve ~ resources as well as hard-earned funds ~ which would probably be better used for ecology/animal charities of one’s choice.