Vegan Climbing Shoes
last updated on 5/12/17
Please read this disclaimer before purchasing.
Evolv
Evolv Defy
The Defy Vtr 
Evolv Elektra
The Elektra
Evolv Kira
New for 2016! “Anatomically engineered parts and design provide the Kira with a comfortable fit without sacrificing performance. It uses a single buckle plus cinch-pull strap closure for convenience and a customizable fit for the modern climber making it one of the best flat-lasted technical all-around shoes on the market. ” (description from evolvsports.com)
Evolv Kronos
New for 2016! “Anatomically engineered parts and design provide the Kronos with a comfortable fit without sacrificing performance. It uses a single buckle plus cinch-pull strap closure for convenience and a customizable fit for the modern climber making it one of the best flat-lasted technical all-around shoes on the market.” (description from evolvsports.com)
Evolv Shaman 2016
Evolv redesigned the Shaman for 2016 and it’s now vegan! This new version has “an improved fit in terms of engineered comfort and performance with more toe rubber for toe hooking and an inset front strap for better medial side toe scumming. The upgrade promises to make current customers appreciate the enhancements while getting new customers to enjoy the legendary performance with comfort.” (description from evolvsports.com)
Evolv Venga Kid’s
The Evolv Vengs Kid’s “sports a modern look, real rock shoe performance, comfortable fit and a size adjusting heel strap for growing kids.” (description from evolvsports.com)
Five Ten
Five Ten Team 5.10
The Five Ten Team 5.10 features ultra-thin STEALTH HF™ rubber so you can really feel the rock beneath your feet.
Five Ten Dragon
The Five Ten Dragon was designed to be the ultimate bouldering shoe.
Five Ten Blackwing
The Five Ten Blackwing has a fleecy, padded tongue that wicks moisture to prevent hot spots.
Also available in men’s.
Five Ten Arrowhead
The Five Ten Arrowhead features a down-turned toe and heel cup that grips without pinching.
Five Ten Anasazi VCS
The Five Ten Anasazi VCS features an easy-on/easy-off design.
Five Ten Anasazi Lace
The Five Ten Anasazi Lace’s Cowdura upper provides a glove-like secure fit.
Five Ten Anasazi LV
The Five Ten Anasazi LV is a low volume shoe designed for narrow feet and low insteps.
LaSportiva
La Sportiva Oxygym
The La Sportiva Oxygym is breathable, durable and washable.
Also available in men’s
Mad Rock
Mad Rock Flash 2.0 Yellow
Mad Rock Flash 2.0 Yellow (note: the Flash 2.0 Orange is not vegan)
Mad Rock Lotus
Mad Rock’s Lotus 
Mad Rock Lyra
Mad Rock Lyra is a climbing shoe that can do it all thanks to the design and fit.
Mad Rock M5
The Mad Rock M5’s 
Mad Rock Mad Monkey 2.0
Mad Rock Mad Monkey 2.0 upgrades our ever popular Mad Monkey with two rear closure straps for even more size adjustability. Our new dual closure system prevents straps from scratching delicate ankles when cinching down for a tighter fit.
Mad Rock Pulse Negative
With the Mad Rock Pulse Negative fine tune the length and volume of your climbing shoes between the Positive (High Volume) and the Negative (Low Volume) version.
Mad Rock Pulse Positive
With the Mad Rock Pulse Positive fine tune the length and volume of your climbing shoes between the Positive (High Volume) and the Negative (Low Volume) version.
Mad Rock Redline
The Mad Rock Redline 
Mad Rock Shark 2.0
The Mad Rock Shark 2.0 
Tenaya
Tenaya Oasi
The Tenaya Oasi 
Tenaya Ra
The Tenaya Ra 
Tenaya Inti
The Tenaya Inti 
Tenaya Tatanka
The Tatanka 
Tenaya Masai
The Masai 
Scarpa
“As concern the models which have a completely synthetic upper, we can’t be sure that the glue we use is free of animal derived components. Therefore, we prefer you don’t consider any of our article as vegan.”
Contact Scarpa: http://www.scarpa.com / 303-998-2895
Is this list missing your faves? Let me know in the comments below!
Don’t miss out on any vegan outdoor gear options… just enter your email here and I’ll let you know whenever this list (or any of the others) is updated.
Thanks a lot for this list! I started rock climbing recently, and I’m looking to buy a pair of climbing shoes soon. I like Evolv (the only pair I’ve climbed in so far), but I’m also interested in Ocun climbing shoes. They list (http://www.ocun.com/en/products/climbing-shoes.html ) a few shoes as having a vegan composition (I don’t know if that means even the adhesive is vegan, etc; these include Pearl LU, Strike QC, Strike LU, Crest QC, Crest LU, Rental QC, Rival, Hero QC, and maybe more). Are these something you’ve already checked out and found out are not actually vegan, or have you not come across them before? Thank you for letting me know!
Is the new Mad Rock slipper named “Remora” vegan? It’s synthetic 🙂
Went to the five ten store in CA recently and heard that they are transitioning to only using synthetic materials! That means in the next couple years we should be able to get any model 5.10 shoe and it’ll be vegan! Woohoo progress 🙂
Just curious as I see a lot of other shoe suggestions in the comments, have they not been added because it turned out they weren’t vegan? Or is it just haven’t found the time or something along those lines? (Which is understandable, thank you for spending the time to make this a amazing resource!)
Hi Steven, Honestly it’s probably a little of both. Is there a certain brand you were wondering about? ~ Jessica
Thanks for this list! I appreciate that you throughly research these companies for us.
You may want to add this brand…So iLL. They claim on their website that all the synthetic models are vegan friendly. I just bought a pair of their Runner LVs and can’t wait to use them.
http://soillholds.com/collections/climbing-shoes/
Thanks for the suggestion, Jen! Enjoy! 🙂
Jess! Check it out! Evolv is releasing a TON of new vegan climbing shoes!
http://stephdavis.co/blog/evolv-vegan-shoes/
Very cool! Thanks for the heads up, Liz! 🙂
Did you ever contact the company Butora? I don’t know much about them, and I’m curious if any of their shoes are vegan. Would be really cool if you could do some digging 🙂
Hi Liz, I tried Butora a couple of times a while back and never got any response. I’ll try again and let you know! – Jessica
Hi Jess,
Its a good compilation of the shoes. It seems that you’re missing shoes from Red Chilli and Boreal.
I’ve sent them mails as recently as I’m looking for new pair of shoes for Trad.
For Red Chilli: Durango VCR and Durango Lace are Vegan shoes, in case you want to add them on your list.
Still waiting for the reply from Boreal, if I get one I’ll let you know.
-Raj
Hi Raj!
Thanks for your comment. Last summer I contacted both Red Chilli and Boreal (I need to go through and re-contact everyone and update my list pretty soon). Boreal told me that they have no vegan options. And Red Chilli originally told me that the Nano, Durango and Durango VCR are vegan, but when I tried to confirm on the glues used, I never got a reply back after numerous attempts to find out this information. Did they confirm the glues were synthetic for you?
I would definitely appreciate it if you’d let me know what Boreal says, too.
Thanks again!
Jess
Ehi! Nice post, I contacted some companies too, and Wild Climb, from Italy, guaranteed that their models Pantera, Mangusta, Sky and First Step are produced without the use of any material of animal origin. http://www.wildclimb.it/world/products
David
Hi David,
Thanks so much for the info! I really appreciate it! 🙂
Jessica
I recently emailed Saltic, a Czech climbing apparel company, and they replied that all their climbing shoes are synthetic unless stated otherwise and all adhesives used are synthetic 😀
Hey Luke! Just saw your instagram post on this! Awesome news! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂 – Jessica
You are awesome! I just blew out the toe on yet another pair of shoes at the gym yesterday so I need to buy new until I can get my other two pairs resoled or not climb for awhile (not an option as far as I’m concerned). I find researching vegan climbing shoes to be tricky (Example: What the heck is “Cowdura?” And some people tell me this is synthetic and others don’t, but they’re also not vegan so don’t really know what to believe…doesn’t *sound* synthetic :P). So this article is extremely helpful and very timely. Thank you! I noticed 5.10 Sirens aren’t on this list, though, and those are the ones I blew out (I had original Pontas before that). Sirens aren’t vegan? I had been told they were all synthetic when I bought them…another instance of needing to take the input of non-vegans with a grain of sand when it comes to gear shopping?
Hey Heidi! Thanks for the comment and the super kind words! I must’ve missed Sirens when I was putting the page together because they are vegan! Thanks so much for letting me know. I’ll add them to the page asap!
Cowdura is a man-made synthetic suede that 5.10 uses, so it’s definitely vegan, but I agree… what a weird name! :/
Glad you found me and I look forward to hearing which shoes you get next!
~Jessica
Phew! That’s a relief my Sirens are vegan. I’ll have no qualms about resoling them then. I ended up going for the Evolv Elektra. Seems like a decent shoe so far, but will definitely need a bit more time to break in to know for sure. I’ll be sending the Pontas and Sirens to be resoled so I won’t be caught without a pair again. Thanks again for this page 🙂
I was just on the Five Ten website and saw they had the 2012 Sirens for $59 versus $125 for the new ones. I asked via the “live chat” what the differences were and if both were vegan-friendly.
This is the response I got from Spencer Forbes:
“Hello Margie, These both are not vegan friendly. They have some leather for the lace stays and pieces of the upper. The only differences are year production and logoing.”
Don’t know if that was a real person or a computer-generated response.
Hi Margie, thanks for the message! Here’s yet another example of the confusion that occurs over what things are made of. Very frustrating. This shoe is listed as synthetic on every site I’ve seen it on, and I’ve found that most customer service reps go only by what information is in front of them, so sometimes we’re not getting the correct information, even when we ask. But when I just double checked with Five Ten, they told me that they usually only list the main upper material, which is synthetic, but in the case of the Sirens there actually is some leather included. Very unfortunate.
The good news is that they double checked the other Five Ten shoes on the actual list and they’re all completely synthetic. And he said he’s brought the labeling issue up to the Marketing and Development department.
I’m sorry for the confusion!
~Jessica
Thank you, Jessica, for verifying the information on the other Five Ten shoes. You do a great job of sorting through all the confusion.
I appreciate your time and conscientious efforts in providing the much-needed information on this website. The pictures of the shoes are especially helpful!
Regards, Margie
I’ve owned the Evolv pontas and defy’s. The Defy’s did not have the best fit for my feet but they seem like a decent beginners shoe. The Pontas have a more aggressive turndown but not too much. I can spend a few hours in them on long trad routes, sport climb steep routes and even do some bouldering too. No one will mistake them for Solutions or Mura’s but they are a damn good all around shoe. It’s too bad that Evolv added leather to the shoe now.
Biggest downside to the Evolv (like most synthetic shoes) is the legendary stink. Wear these a few days and you’ll have a defensive weapon that will rival any skunk out there.
Thanks for your comment, Brian! I’d love for this site to be full of reviews some day so it’s easy to decide which gear is the best fit before buying. 🙂 ~ Jessica