Environmental Footwear Pioneer Julie Lewis Returns!

Back in 1991, Julie Lewis founded Deja Shoe, a new kind of footwear company -- one concerned with environmentalism, alternatives to leather (such as hemp and recycled materials), and human rights. The company went strong for years, bringing an array of quality shoes, boots, slides, and sandals. Their ambitious efforts to bring recycled and hemp products to the mainstream looked promising, but this ultimately led to their demise, requiring a liquidation of their inventory, and even their trade name, in order to avoid bankruptcy. Chinook Trading Company acquired the name and kept the Deja brand going for a few years until they shelved it due to lack of further interest.

In the mean time, Julie Lewis co-founded a second environmental shoe company, Deep E Co. But after this company failed, Julie tried to buy the Deja trade name back from Chinook. She purchased Chinook's remaining inventory in an effort to raise the funds to buy the name back (through sellling these shoes), but she wasn't able to sell them fast enough. In November 2002, Chinook sold the Deja trade name to another company.

Now twelve years since her original concept, Julie has not given up on environmental footwear. She is once again taking things into her own hands with her own new company, Vigilante Jade, or "V-Jade" for short. "Jade" is "Deja" scrambled, and it also signifies the "green" lifestyle (get it?). The first offering from V-Jade is The Pachira, which means "good fortune," a stylish street hiker very similar to Deja's old Sativa hikers. They are available in men's and women's sizes in your choice of natural or black. Made with hemp and a host of recycled materials, The Pachira is in the true spirit of Deja Shoe.

Copyright © 2003 Julie Lewis and The Vegetarian Site, All Rights Reserved.