S8. E25: Rebecca Mink: The Pioneer
“I said, ‘let's go on Zappos and look up Zappos and vegan.’ And so I searched it… and I said, ‘let's see what you get when you search that.’ And they had gardening clogs, they had like a croc shoe. And I said, ‘why don't you guys go look at how many people opt out after they see that and then you might buy my shoes.’ That was a Friday and Monday they bought 18 styles.”
- Rebecca Mink
Rebecca Mink is the founder of the very first vegan luxury shoe brand, Mink Shoes. Mink Shoes have been around since the year 2000, way before anybody was making anything luxury vegan. She started the brand because for the years leading up to it, she’d been a celebrity wardrobe stylist and there was nothing vegan out there to put on their feet.
“I was buying 25 or 30 thousand dollars of leather shoes a month for these clients, and I was sick over it. I was walking into the shoe department of Neiman Marcus and getting the best of this and that… shopping and buying things that I didn't believe in. I could do [vegan] everything except for the shoes, everything. I could even get away with certain belts, metal belts, different things. But I could not put someone on the red carpet in what we had at that time, which was Payless.” – Rebecca Mink
Over the years, she has made custom shoes for celebs like Miley Cyrus, Natalie Portman, Madonna, Pamela Anderson, and Jennifer Lopez.
Rebecca’s next big thing is the launch of Mink Vegan Leather, a bio-based leather made from upcycled plants, coming to the world in 2023.
In gratitude,
Elizabeth Novogratz
Learn More About Mink Shoes
Learn About Mink Vegan Leather
Follow Mink Shoes on Instagram
Become a Species Unite member!
You can listen to our podcast via our website or you can subscribe and listen on Apple, Spotify, or Google Play. If you enjoy listening to the Species Unite podcast, we’d love to hear from you! You can rate and review via Apple Podcast here. If you support our mission to change the narrative toward a world of co-existence, we would love for you to make a donation or become an official Species Unite member!
As always, thank you for tuning in - we truly believe that stories have the power to change the way the world treats animals and it’s a pleasure to have you with us on this.