5 More Sustainable Men’s Dress Shoes for Formal Occasions

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Looking for more ethical and sustainable men’s dress shoes for the office or an upcoming event? We’ve curated our top picks from responsible footwear brands making Derby shoes, Oxfords, boots, and sneaker styles to suit your tastes.

Match your dress shoes to your morals

While it’s true that there’s more of a focus on sustainable fashion than ever, and there are a lot more brands working to reduce their impact than, say, a decade ago, some fashion categories are still catching up—and shoes is one of them, particularly ones for men. So what to do if you need a decent pair of smart shoes for the office, for a wedding, job interview, or other special occasion? We’ve rounded up a handful of brands rated highly in Good On You’s directory that are doing things more responsibly. That means they’re doing things like avoiding animal-derived material completely or working hard to source them as ethically as possible; they’re choosing other lower-impact materials; paying their workers fairly; and much more. You can check out each brand’s directory page to find out more about the actions they’re taking, and how they rate against our methodology.

And don’t forget: second hand stores and apps or clothing swaps are a great place to search before buying new. But if you do need to invest, scroll on for our round-up, which includes classic Oxford shoes, Chelsea boots, brogues, and smart sneakers, too.

A note on degendering fashion

While this article addresses keywords on men’s shoes, the simple truth is that shoes, clothes, accessories, and the like don’t have any gender. It sometimes seems silly how the industry ascribes gender to inanimate garments like t-shirts, sandals, and socks. We believe people of all genders should be able to express themselves however they want, regardless of the binary marketing. So when you use our directory to search for brands, we automatically deliver search results without any consideration to gender. If you still want to find products labelled as menswear or womenswear, you can use our filters.

Why you can trust our recommendations

At Good On You, we provide trustworthy recommendations that align with your values and needs. Our mission is to simplify informed choices while embracing the “buy less, buy better” motto.

To ensure credibility, we aggregate comprehensive, transparent information on fashion sustainability—assessing brands using our leading methodology, developed by diverse experts. Our ratings directory of over 6,000 brands employs a simple five-point scale, curating a list of “Good” or “Great” brands making significant contributions to sustainable fashion.

Our editorial team, driven by expertise and passion, carefully reviews and approves each recommendation, upholding high standards of quality, longevity, and trend-transcendence.

While we recognise the value of reusing, mending, and second-hand shopping, our expert ratings system guides you toward new brands aligned with your values and sustainability goals.