This summer I was on the hunt for heels for a friend’s wedding, so I checked out my neighborhood mecca, Harry’s Shoes.  The place has been around forever and, judging by the age and expertise of its employees, this is no ordinary shoe store.  It’s like a high-end steakhouse, where the waiters might has well have farmed and butchered the meat themselves they know so much. Harry’s knows shoes.

But, I digress.

While browsing the store, I noticed a pair of the cutest sneakers I’ve ever seen, called Simple Shoes. (I should tell you that I’m pretty picky about shoes and once I choose have been known to keep them until they become unwearable. My last pair of precious sneakers became slip-ons by the end because the back would no longer hold its shape.)

Simple Shoes had me at hello. The name, genius. Their manifesto, divine. And the fit? Suffice it to say, my feet had found a happy home.

I went home to do some research. “Griz”, Simple Shoe’s PR guy Greg Nielsen, gave me lots of literature about the company’s history and ideals. He wrote:

“We started doing the eco-friendly thing in 2005 with Green Toe, a small collection of 2 shoes. We wanted to rethink the way shoes were made, and although it took a lot of hard lessons we have come a long way. Here is a video that describes our journey.”

I was jealous earlier this year when my husband, our family’s Imelda, found an eco-friendly, cool-looking pair of shoes to walk around town. Terra Plana have soles made of corn husks! How could I compete?

Well, Simple Shoes have soles made from recycled tires, among other elements that are made with the environment in mind.

Look good, feel good — it’s possible to have it all.