Big Brands Doing Cool Things: Stride-Rite prewalkers go greener

Eco-friendly shoes may conjure up images of Birkenstocks or novelty moccasins from a gift stop in Maine, but more and more, the big brands are embracing small steps towards general environmental do-gooding. Now it's Stride-Rite, that children's shoe behemoth, who's added an eco-responsibility component to their much loved prewalkers for babies.

Styling wise, I think they hit it more with the boys designs than the girls this season, although all the styles have the excellent support and comfort that matter most in a baby's first pair of shoes. But what's really special is that the outsoles are actually made from recycled rubber, the stitching is natural, and details (like on the Puggle monkey shoe) are painted with safe water-based inks.

In other words, these shoes are good for baby, but they're not so bad for mama earth either. -Liz

Congratulations to Rachel G, winner of the NMS Early Walkers!