Lakai "EVO 2.0 (navy cream)" is vegan


Lakai Footwear has an "after skate" shoe called "EVO 2.0" and the only (?) colourway available is "navy cream", and that shoe is vegan.

Some online stores that sell this shoe state that the material of the upper is "suede". But judging from the photos, the upper doesn't even entirely look like real suede.

The Lakai website states that the material of the upper is synthetic suede and mesh, which only makes sense, because while skate shoes need to be durable and animal-source suede unfortunately IS a durable material (and that's why it's used a lot - still today), "after skate" shoes don't need to be durable in terms of kickflip punishment. "After skate" shoes should be lightweight. So, using only synthetic materials makes perfect sense, especially since these are also cheaper oftentimes (unless it's high quality and DURABLE microfibre suede, such as the one used on the Servant Dagon or by Etnies).

The Lakai customer service says: 

"These specific shoes are made with 100% textiles fabrics, synthetic leather, and zero animal products."
Sounds good!

This is the shoe: Lakai EVO 2.0 (navy cream)







From the Lakai website:

"
The Lakai Evo 2.0 features:
•  After-Skate™ silhouette
•  Welded seams
•  Classic bold branding
•  Synthetic suede and breathable mesh upper
•  Lightweight foam midsole and rubber outsole
•  Premium foam sockliner
"

Note on sizing:

They may run a little (~ half a size?) small (someone has told me). So, if in doubt, going half a size up might be a good idea - however: they don't come in half sizes. So, ... you decide.  

Other vegan Lakai shoes:

All the other "new" styles of Lakai shoes currently available on the Lakai website seem to be rather flimsy (if you plan on skating them hard) canvas shoes. You can search for "vegan" on the Lakai website, but the "EVO 2.0" will actually not show up in the search, just like some actually vegan shoes may not show up when you search "vegan" on the éS website.

See here for some older vegan Lakai shoes (including some synthetic suede ones).