Children's shoes: healthy and sustainable
Shoes for the youngest children should be healthy and free of harmful substances. Tests by consumer associations show that this is not always the case.
There is a wide range of children's shoes on offer - but what about the health compatibility of the shoes on offer? Especially with summer shoes, children's skin comes into contact with the material, which should be free of harmful substances. In the models that the Austrian consumer association tested, the upper material, lining and insole are made of leather. In 85 percent of cases, chrome was used to tan the leather.
Tanning with chrome oxides is the most common method worldwide, although it involves high isks for the environment and health. This can lead to the formation of chromium trioxide (chromium VI) compounds; the hexavalent chromium is highly toxic and carcinogenic and can easily penetrate the skin. Clinical studies have shown that even the smallest amounts are sufficient to trigger an allergic reaction in very sensitive people.
In the tests, most shoes performed well, but one pair was found to have a high chromium trioxide content. However, the formation of chromium VI can largely be avoided today by an appropriate composition of the tanning agent formulation; since May 2015, the sale of leather containing chromium VI has even been prohibited in the EU. Shoes were also tested for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and banned azo dyes (see Consumer 5/2016).
Sustainable shoe production
The ecological alternative to chrome tanning is tanning with vegetable tanning agents. Consumers can find vegetable tanned leather under different denominations like "old tanned" "vegetable tanning" etc. Tanning is mainly done with oak and spruce bark, oak is suitable for all types of leather. There are also the tanning agents tara pods, valonea and acacia, the latter makes leather rather flexible and supple, or chestnut, which makes leather rather hard and reddish. Rhubarb can also be used for tanning. There are only a few shoe manufacturers in Austria who attach importance to (partly) domestic and sustainable production, among them Hartjes, Legero and the Waldviertler Schuhwerkstatt (GEA). The Chilli Schnürer of the brand Think!, a subsidiary of Legero, are the first shoes to be awarded the Austrian Ecolabel: They consist of completely chrome-free tanned leather and a latex sole. Shoes and the materials used come exclusively from Europe. GEA and Legero also offer shoes for the little ones. Another guarantee for ecologically valuable natural leather is the IVN seal of approval. The Change your Shoes campaign is also worth mentioning: it draws attention to health and environmental hazards in the leather and shoe industry.
The first eco-labelled shoe: http://www.umweltzeichen.at/cms/de/produkte/textilien-schuhe/content.html?akt_id=38863
Hartjes http://www.hartjes.at/
Legero http://www.legero.at/
GEA: http://w4tler.at/gea-produkte/schuhe
IVN http://www.naturtextil.de/verbraucher/qualitaetszeichen/naturleder.html
Change your Shoes https://www.cleanclothes.at/de/