Thank you Unstitched Utilities
for providing me with products to review, free of charge,
and for sponsoring this giveaway.
These are my own honest opinions.

 It’s ‘cool’ to go green, but not every green product looks cool… It can be difficult to combine functionality, green materials and style. Fortunately, 3 guys who used to work for some of the biggest footwear companies managed to blend all these attributes and create one of a kind shoes… out of what looks like crumpled paper!

That’s right, when you look at the shoes that Unstitched Utilities has to offer, you won’t find leather or ordinary textiles. What you’ll find is that all their shoes are made in Tyvek.

What is Tyvek? It’s a polyethylene fiber that is super durable and lightweight while being water resistant and breathable. It is of course vegan but also eco-friendly because it is recyclable! Tyvek is typically used as a house building material or in reinforced shipping envelopes but the guys from Unstitched Utilities saw it as a unique and innovative material that could be used to create one of a kind footwear.  Even the dyes and glues used are vegetable and water-based.

The final product is a fashion-forward, totally hip, eco-friendly and vegan collection of shoes for men and women. Tyvek gives shoes an uncommon appearance because Tyvek looks and feels like crumpled paper (although it is a lot more durable!) Each shoe has unique creases and wrinkles that are guaranteed to earn you a few questions and quizzical looks. Unstitched Utilities shoes comes in a wide selection of designs, colors, and prints created once again out of unusual materials such as recycled newspaper and magazines. Who said eco-friendly shoes couldn’t be show stoppers?

Unstitched Utilities shoes comes in sizes 8-11 for women and 6.5 to 13 for men. Hopefully, they will soon offer smaller sizes for women. I ordered a size 8 but it does feel a little longer (but not wider) than usual so you might want to consider ordering half a size smaller than what you usually wear. They are still very comfortable and don’t rub against my heel or anything so I’m fine with them being a little bigger than usual.

Unstitched Utilities shoes are made in China and Vietnam. They do however make every attempt to make sure that the employees of their factories work in a safe environment and benefit from good working conditions.

For this review, I received a pair of Cosmo Low. They are a beautiful alpine blue color with grey and light yellow accents. Obviously, when I got them out of the box, the first thing that caught my eyes is the crinkled look of the shoes. Then I touched them and instantly thought ‘This is paper!’ Even though I knew full well it was Tyvek, it’s just so similar to paper in the way it looks and feels that my brain needed a little time to process that it was in fact very durable and recyclable Tyvek material.

I wore the shoes for long walks and I love them! They are very lightweight and flexible and provide some arch support so they are very comfortable even when worn over long periods of time. Unlike many shoes made of synthetic fabrics, they are quite breathable, an important attribute during the summer months! I haven’t tried them under wet conditions but it’s bound to happen soon with the very rainy summer we’re having… I can’t wait to see how they hold up.

Overall, I am really pleased with my Cosmo Low shoes! They look great. They feel great. And they are great for the planet! What else can you ask for? I love it when people think outside the box and find innovative ways to use materials. This is definitely one of the cleverest ideas I’ve seen in a while and I’m really thrilled to share my discovery of Unstitched Utilities with you.

Buy It: Head over to Unstitched Utilities to see for yourself the selection of eco-friendly and vegan shoes they offer.

Connect: Don’t forget to like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter for all the latest news and promotions.

Win It: Unstitched Utilities is  is generously offering one of our lucky readers a pair of shoes of their choice! The giveaway is open to US only. The giveaway will end August 19th. For your chance to win, enter the Giveaway Tools below. Good luck!

*Emily Reviews is currently testing out the upgraded giveaway tools entry form. Because it is so new, it may have some bugs or technical problems. If you experience any problems with the form, please email Giveaway Tools at Support@giveawaytools.com.

Rachel