Most of us buy shoes we don’t need. I must have 6 pairs of flip-flops in my closet, and I know I’m not the only one to store shoes I rarely wear. Remember Imelda Marcos? Her name has become a broader adjective meaning “buying grossly overindulgent numbers of shoes.”

But two new shoe companies are trying to make each sale do something good for people or the environment.

One is Bangs, a U.S. company that makes shoes in China, then uses the profits to fund loans to small mom-and-pop businesses around the world. By helping individuals in struggling economies to expand their farms, or groceries, or clothing co-ops, Bangs contributes to a grassroots effort to strengthen people’s standard of living.

Bangs Shoes

The other company is Saola, which is headquartered in France and is about to produce its first run of environmentally-friendly sneakers. Founded by veterans of the footwear industry who felt disillusioned by its ghastly environmental record (footwear is the world’s second-largest polluter, after oil and gas), Saola makes the kind of canvas-and-rubber sneakers that we all love. But everything about their production is sustainable, from the methods to the materials.

Saola Shoes

You can read more about both companies in my article for Outside Magazine, where I contribute weekly to the women’s gear column.

It’s encouraging to see companies dedicate themselves not only to profits, but to bettering our world…