In celebration of their new vegan store, the kind folks at Planet Shoes sent me over a pair of adorbs faux-leather ankle boots from vegan brand Blowfish to wear around and report on for y’all. You know I’m a professional shoe reviewer, right?

After about a month of extensive scientific testing, I now deliver the following insights:

1. Everyone should have a pair of cute brown ankle boots with buckles. These go with literally everything I own, including my pajamas and wedding dress. Can we create a program to issue a pair every couple years to everyone ever?

2. If you plan to walk in these a lot and are old and broken like me, get some nice insoles, because the arch support is only meh.

3. The buckles are decorative. REPEAT: You do NOT need to unbuckle the buckles to use these shoes. As a lazy person, this pleases me.

4. Apparently faux leather is kind of delicate? This is my main gripe with the Alms. A month in, I’ve already managed to scratch up the heels and toes like a college student who’s never getting her security deposit back because you can’t actually drag your desk across hardwood floors like that, who knew?

Will these tragic scars keep me from wearing the boots? Obviously not. But would I be kind of upset about them if I’d paid the $69 the boots cost? Obviously. 

The Blowfish blog has some tips on caring for their boots that advise using leather conditioner, so maybe I’ll try that next. Anyone else have tips on dealing with such issues, other than just yelling at my feet to toughen up until my shoes start crying?

Today, Rachel pens a letter to Planet Shoes in appreciation of the vegan-only section they’ve added to their store. 

Dear Planet Shoes, 

Thank you for taking the time to gather all the vegan shoes into one subsection of your website! I especially appreciate your mix of fully vegan brands, like Blowfish, with the vegan options from brands I might not think of, like Patagonia or Sanuk or Merrell.

Your browse function is well-designed and easy to use, which a lazy person like me truly appreciates. One sad: you currently have no metallic or silver options, which is going to put a damper on my metallic shoe collection. Can you get all the metallic shoes please? 

Your reviews are a bit thin right now, but luckily The Rest of The Internet can help me overcome that, until such time as the world discovers your vegan shoe shop and leaves oodles and oodles of reviews.

I will tell all my friends at Vegansaurus that you have launched your new shop, I bet they’ll want to check it out.

-Rachel

PS: Also, thank you for letting me pick out a pair of free shoes! (check back for the shoe review next week!)

Great American Beer Festival is coming to Denver this weekend, which means the whole town is pretty much gonna be just like this for four days straight:

And for the first time ever, Vegansaurus is sending a correspondent INSIDE the madhouse, to report back on all the latest and most important breaking beer news.

There’s a bear trying to break in to your convention!! Photo © Brewers Association

If any of y’all fabulous readers are going to be there, holla at me and we can trade bites of pretzel necklace.

Mine will not look this fabulous.

Otherwise, you have three responsibilities:

1. Tune in here and to the Vegansaurus social media for updates on the bestest, most award-winning vegan beers and other shenanigans (or go straight to the source: @razpacker).
2. Tell us what YOUR favorite vegan beer is in the comment section, so we can make sure to try it!
3. Get sloshed on beer this weekend, in solidarity. Responsibly, of course.

[Not sure if your fave beer is vegan? It’s ok, we’ve all been there. Step 1: Check barnivore.com. Not on there? Become a detective and email the company! You will be doing a service to all of humanity, in the name of beer.]

Thank you for joining us on this magical, fizzy, hoppy journey! Cheers!

Just sign a pledge not to eat chickens (EASY) and Compassion Over Killing is gonna hook you up with a buy one, get one free coupon for Beyond Meat! There is NOTHING not good about this situation. Except first you need to get off your ass and go to a store (HARD). But otherwise, WIN!

We know you guys don’t eat chickens but you can still get a coupon AND you should share this with your chicken-eating friends! You can share it with this NYT piece: Fake Meats, Finally, Taste Like Chicken. DARE them to try it. 

In my day job for Backpacker Magazine, I get to try a lot of shoes as a gear tester. Most of them aren’t vegan (go ahead, roast me in the comments), and they definitely don’t ever earn me any style points.* That’s why when the folks at PlanetShoes.com offered to send us shoes from all-vegan line Reneu, I threw elbows to make sure these babies came to me—I’m a serious remedial case. 

In addition to being vegan, Reneu is eco-minded and incorporates earth-friendly materials into their shoes. Exhibit A: The first shoes I tried, the Temba ballet flat ($74), have all-hemp uppers. 

My actual feet, looking much prettier than they normally do.

First thing I noticed: You probably shouldn’t try to go hiking in these. But if you (hypothetically) find yourself wandering around trails on a friend’s pot farm or something, then the Temba hemp ballet flat will not only be a fitting fabric for the occasion, but will do you good and hold up to the unreasonable demands you are making of it. The memory-foam insole isn’t enough to protect you from actual rocks and sticks and stuff, but it can totally handle a full 9 hours at a standing desk, plus the walk to happy hour afterwards. And they’re small enough to fit in a purse or a pack if you need to bring out the big guns hiker shoes on your commute (2.5 miles of flooded paths! I had to go WADING yesterday! Yes I am that lady who commutes in sneakers approach shoes then changes!). 

And guys: In these shoes, the adorbs 22-year-old designer across the hall from me actually took the time to stop in and tell me she liked my outfit. That has not ever happened before. 

I also tested out the Nia strappy faux-leather sandals ($79), but did not love them as much. It’s a tough fit when only the back strap is adjustable, and I found myself tripping on them even though they’re actually a half-size smaller than I’d normally wear. Luckily PlanetShoes.com has free returns, though, so if that fit issue happened to you, it’d be all good.

In summary: CUTE!! 

*Actual quote from a friend: “You’re like a disco hiker or something. You have these normal outfits on, then you’re still wearing shoes like you’re about to run up a mountain.”