Urban Renewal.

Urban Renewal is Urban Outfitter's line of one-of-a-kind, handmade apparel and accessories, with materials sourced from thrift stores and garage sales. I will be the first to admit that some of the pieces are ugly at best, but there are a handful of awesome designs. I'm also a fan of the cute illustrations that accompany each piece.

U Roads.

A few weeks ago, I was checking out the new shoes for men at Urban Outfitters. I clicked into a particularly promising pair of short boots, and was admiring them immensely. I was just about to click away from the page when I noticed a recycle sign towards the back of the shoe. My inner environmentalist always gets giddy when I see that sign, although it's shown up on the packaging and in the advertising of companies with less-than-green policies. Still, it sparked my interest enough to find out more about the company.

As it turns out, the company is called U Roads. They are a newish Italian shoe company who make the souls of their shoes out of recycled tires. They are hand-crafted and the leather is tanned using vegetable-oil, much more Earth-friendly than the typical aluminum/titanium process most commonly used commercially. U Roads shoes also come in 100% post-consumer waste packaging. And, well, they're adorable.









For U Roads at Urban Outfitters, click here