Wait...vegan shoes? I admit my mind is riven with images of that scene from Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush where The Little Tramp eats the shoe. I guess it never really occurred to me to wonder if the shoe was vegan... Seriously, though, the New York Times had a story earlier this week about a start-up footwear company that is indeed selling a “vegan shoe.” I’m not sure “vegan” is the best word to use, but the idea behind Unstitched Utilities is footwear made from sustainable materials. The shoes are predominantly made from Tyvek, a DuPont polymer that can be recycled, the soles are made from 20% recycled rubber, and the lot is all held together by vegetable- and water-based dyes and glues. More importantly, the company says the shoes are designed to last longer than the average shoe, potentially leading to less waste sent to landfills. Points out the Times:

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which collects data on U.S. trash disposal, does not have a separate category for footwear. However, according to the agency’s latest figures, Americans threw out some 21 million tons of textiles, leather and rubber in 2010. Given the rate at which Americans buy footwear — last year, $212 for seven pairs of shoes — a small but significant portion of this is likely to be old shoes.

But then, perhaps if they were truly vegan, we could simply eat old shoes à la Chaplin. Well, OK, maybe not. The company is also taking steps to develop shoes made from recycled newspapers and magazines.