If you eco fashionista jetsetters are in London enjoying the recent value drop in the British pound, you must drop by The Aveda Institute tonight. Aveda will be hosting an ecocentric Valentine’s green fashion show. Ethical designers include Nancy Dee, Mark Liu, Tammam, Miksa, Bibico, Ruth Cross, and eco shoe mavens, Hetty Rose and Beyond Skin. Eco fashion, organic wine and chocolate…enough said.

Ethiopia…land of the original coffee bean, breathtaking waterfalls, and the history-making, inspired leadership of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Ethiopian people are some of the most beautiful in the world, as well as some of the poorest. Too many people in this country suffer and die from diseases that are completely preventable, like podoconiosis.

TOMS Shoes has an aggressively philanthropic business model, giving one pair of shoes to a child in need for every single pair they sell. Their hugely successful line of canvas slip-ons and newly released “wrap boots” sell to major national retailers like Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, American Rag, and Greenloop. Up until just last week, Founder Blake Mycoskie and team have flown to exotic locales like Argentina, South Africa, and Ethiopia to personally fit kids with brand new pairs of TOMS, distributing more than 85,000 pairs around the world.

Doing shoe drops abroad seemed to make the most sense to Blake, considering most kids in the US have access to shoes. He recently realized though that some American children, like victims of natural disasters, were stuck with ill-fitting hand-me-downs or had to share shoes with siblings. So Blake decided to finally bring his “shoe drops” home to the US by organizing a handful of TOMS signature DIY shoe parties, dubbed Style Your Sole, at four different school districts in Mississippi still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. Each child received a brand new pair of white canvas TOMS to paint in their own unique way. Needless to say, they were very excited! Another brilliant idea from TOMS.

In our ongoing series, Green Your Closet 2008, we’ve explored how to lessen the environmental impact of your wardrobe by recycling clothing, laundering your garments properly, and finding affordable eco fashion. In this installment, we’re gonna show you how you can save your soles and accept a cobbler as your personal friend and savior. Yes, it is nearly a religious experience to resurrect your favorite pair of McCartneys, Miu Mius, or Merrells at your local shoe repair shop. You can transform shoes so beaten down by years of abuse they could be lost to a landfill, into fresh, clean kicks ready for another three years of blissful wear. Heavenly, I tell you.

So, where to begin? Your closet, of course. Do you any boots that could use a resoling or side zippers that need to be replaced? Maybe a strap has popped out of the sole of your favorite sandals and needs to be reanchored, or a dingy pair of Adidas needs a fresh pair of shoelaces to make them wearable again. Be aware that some fine, service-oriented companies like Mohop, may repair them for you. If you think your shoes fall into the Mom-And-Pop, luxury, or handmade categories, check their website to see if they’ll do the repairs in-house. Otherwise, you’ll need to find a quality cobbler near you. Use the Shoe Service Institute of America’s shoe repair shop locator. Just enter your zipcode and SSIA will serve you up a list of experienced solesavers in your neck of the woods.

It’s true there’s no more virtuous choice, environmentally-speaking, than making good with what you’ve already got. The second best option is to get high quality shoes on consignment. Consignment shops like Couture USA and Rodeo Drive Resale offer lightly used, designer goods at a fraction of the price. Jimmy Choo, here we come! Thankfully, there’s more and more high-quality sustainable shoe manufacturers coming online each season. Green Toe by Simple, Terra Plana, and Charmone are all companies dedicated to seeking out the most sustainable materials and manufacturing methods possible, while still managing to serve up up a healthy dose of style. Now if you only buy used or eco fabulous shoes from now on, be kind to them, and repair them for years to come, you may just make it into heaven after all for being so good!

Note how attending Catholic school for only one year in pre-school has affected my take on the eco fashion world. Curious. I could probably use a few Hail Manolos, I mean, Marys. (Darn it.)

Since 2001, Beyond Skin has been turning out handmade vegan and vegetarian shoes in their family-run factory in East London. To create a deeper level of sustainability with their product, their designers focus on creating durable, stylish footwear that can be worn year round, rather than seasonally.

In regards to their vegan materials and their resulting environmental footprint, Beyond Skin says, “Every attempt will be made to stay as informed as possible of more natural, organic fabrics as they are developed and become more available on the market. Our packaging is produced using materials from a sustainable source and all our promotional material is printed on recycled paper using soya based inks.”

Soya, that’s so British. Well, it sounds like they’re into the vegan thing, but not quite there yet with petroleum-free, chemical-free materials; though they do use some organic cotton. With their polyvinyl and synthetic leathers, Beyond Skin seems to consider every way they can make the more eco choice.

Well, they’ve certainly have turned out a gorgeous line of vegan shoes, so if nothing else we, can be cruelty-free and quite stylish with Beyond Skin.

(Is it just me or is the name “Beyond Skin” a little eerie for a vegan shoe company? Just checking.)