Nomad Tribe Introduces Vegetable shoes

Illegal drug trade, discrimination and inappropriate plantation are what drew Cristian Gutierrez to become interested in vegan shoes.

Gutierrez, a Peruvian conservationist, is working with Nomad Tribe to bring his vegetable shoes to reality.

Nomad Tribe, an artisan fashion boutique, opened at the heart of Miami a year ago and is partnering with developing countries to create environmental friendly products.

“I been talking to Cristian, and I felt in love with his idea—I definitely want his shoes in my store. So right now, before he goes back to Peru, we are discussing projects. He is still working on the designs, so we are excited to see them soon!” said Joanis Duran, marketer at Nomad Tribe.

Nomad Tribe is a vibrant marketplace for any brand that is about creating a positive social impact, while offering fashionable styles with a purpose. The store works together with people who want an “altogether healthy living.”

For instance, Gutierrez extracts latex from the Amazon trees to help the trees replenish and continue their life.

For those people who are interested in vegan-everything, Gutierrez makes shoes and purses from vegetable leather to offer harmony with nature.

A few moths back, Nomad Tribe store went down due to the Zika problem. “Out of all the places in the world, the mosquito’s decided to settle in Miami Beach,” said Duran.

Now that the store is back to business, it hopes to expand its marketplace by introducing old-artisan traditions that will be converted into the latest styles.

In 2011, Gutierrez was working on a project in Peru (deforestation in the Amazon) when he became interested in working with the local community of the Amazon— to create antique-trendy products.

Moreover, women play a big role in the process of recollecting latex.

“We work with families from the Amazonas to produce ‘el cuero de vegetal’, which is the vegetable leather, thus we are helping conserve and reforest the Amazonas, but also sustaining fashion,” said Gutierrez.

Based on an old artisan technique, latex is extracted from La Shiringa tree —a tree that is only exclusive to the Amazon— to create this green material.

According to Gutierrez, by extracting the latex from the trees, one is not attacking the trees but helping the trees nourish to stay nice and healthy.

Additionally, latex is a white liquid that looks like milk— but once converted it curiously turns into organic leather and cotton. Have you ever felt a hard gummy bear? That is exactly how the latex rubber feels.

“Nomad is all about not just solving the problems faced in today’s society but also creating jobs for men and women of different cultures—we promote dignity. Women who are employ receive fair wages. Every product we have is named after the person who created it. So if you are shopping at our store— know that there’s a story behind every product, “ said Duran.

Furthermore, Gutierrez has been working hard to show quality in his shoes; he is working in improving the rubber latex on the shoes, as well as the color.

“I want to make the latex more durable and sustainable, as well as refine the shoe colors, so they can be more pigmented and permanent— and not fade through time,” said Gutierrez.

Gutierrez shoes consist of three colors: yellow, red and green, which are natural colors of the Amazon plants and trees.

“Very fashionable, different, trendy and unique is how I will describe their clothes and every other fun thing they have there,” said Yashodhara Suri, a regular customer at Nomad Tribe.

“We are trying to become bigger and get known— so we are working with a beautiful campaign to spread the word out. We are opening new stores and hiring more people. You don’t have to major in fashion to work with us. Right now, we have people from different majors like nursing, psychology— not even fashion related— coming to join us,” said Duran.

The way the store is structure and decorated makes you feel like you are, indeed, in a tribe. One may find his/herself feeling like tourists in their own state. It feels like being on an island, near the beach, where one has easy access to nicely crafted homemade accessories.

What makes this store especial is how the store values and shows appreciation for every hard-working artisan, and you can feel that— as soon as you walk into the store.

“They really stay up-to-date with the fashion trends—like I seen these cute yoga pants at their store and all. You are wearing something besides Adidas— you don’t want to see the Nike logo— Obviously we all want to look and be different, so I feel like their store really portrays that,” said Suri.

Gutierrez shoes are unisex; they are designed to fit both men and women.

Through his shoes, Gutierrez wants to portray the people, nature and the climate of the Amazon. As a result, Gutierrez is working with Jorge Cajacuri and Celeste Moreno to help find ways to unite men with nature.

Gutierrez and his friends believe that men have forgotten about nature; therefore, men have taken advantage of nature, as well as polluted it. Through his shoes, Gutierrez wants to create ecological accessories that transmit paradise.

“His shoes will be priced at about $56 here in America— because we are trying to target the college students— and we know they are not able to afford a $100 shoe, so we think is a fair price to what we are offering,” said Duran.

Nevertheless, modern people who are interested in protecting the environment and supporting many causes and organizations, like PETA, are more likely to purchase Gutierrez vegetable shoes.

In addition— for those who like to help charities—Nomad Tribe offers seven causes you can be part of: “Arts + Culture”, “Local Charity”, “Health”, “Education + Children”, “Women Empowerment”, “Fair Trade + Economic Growth” and “Sustainable + Ecologic.”

Subsequently, you know exactly where your money is going.

“We are working on expanding our market by working on all platform of social media— because we want to target the digital people who make daily purchases online. We have recently created a hashtag “benomad” (#benomad), so more people can start following us —and therefore spread the word out. We are also partnering with many other local manufactures, such as Pura Vida and Mata Traders, to help benefit the wilder community and further help to reinvigorate the textile industry,” said Duran.

Miami’s Art Basel is right around the corner. By purchasing Gutierrez vegetable shoes, hard-working women who love to craft and weave will now be able to do something because of your purchase.

People are not just purchasing a trendy shoe, but they are leaving the store knowing that their new shoes have been made with a purpose and a meaning.

“I highly recommend it to anyone— because they make you feel unique—special, you know,” said Suri.