You've probably noticed that vegan sneakers aren't cheap. A quality pair from an ethical brand typically sits between €90 and €160. If you've ever looked at that number and thought — but why? — this article is for you.
We're going to do something most brands won't: show you exactly where the money goes.
The question everyone is thinking but nobody asks
When you buy a €125 pair of vegan sneakers, what are you actually paying for? Is it the brand name? The marketing? The materials? The ethics? Some mysterious markup that funds someone's yacht?
The honest answer is more interesting — and more complicated — than any of those.
We're going to use our own KARIO sneaker as the example. Not because it's our most expensive shoe, but because it's a clean, honest product that tells the story well.
First, a number nobody talks about: VAT
Before we even get to factories and materials, €23.40 of your €125 goes straight to the government as VAT. We collect it at the point of sale and pass it on. We never see it again.
That leaves us with €101.60 to work with.
This matters because most price comparisons don't account for VAT. When you see a €125 ethical sneaker next to a €40 fast fashion alternative, the real comparison isn't €125 vs €40 — it's €101.60 vs roughly €33. Still a gap, but a very different story.
The factory: where more than a third goes
More than a third of our net revenue goes directly to our factory in northern Portugal. That number covers two things that can't be separated: the people who make the shoes, and the materials they make them with.
Portugal has been one of Europe's most respected shoemaking regions for centuries. The factories here employ skilled craftspeople — many of them second or third generation shoemakers — working under EU labour law, with legal wages, safe conditions and workers' rights protected by European standards. You can read more about why we make everything in Portugal in a separate piece we wrote on the subject.
This is not a coincidence. When NAE was founded in 2008, we chose Portugal specifically because of this. Not because it was the cheapest option — it wasn't. Because quality, craft and fair treatment of the people making our shoes were non-negotiable.
The materials: innovation costs money
Inside that factory cost are the materials themselves. And this is where vegan footwear gets genuinely interesting — and genuinely expensive.
The KARIO uses Ecopure micro leather by Morón — a material with 25% recycled content that looks and performs like premium leather, but without the animal suffering, the greenhouse gas emissions, or the environmental cost of livestock farming and tanning. Traditional leather production is one of fashion's most resource-intensive processes — from the land and water used to raise animals, to the toxic chemicals involved in tanning. These innovative materials are produced in controlled industrial environments, with managed energy and water consumption, designed from the ground up to reduce that footprint without compromising on quality or feel.
The lining is Steam, also by Morón — breathable, durable, responsibly produced. The insole is recycled foam. The sole is natural rubber. You can explore all the innovative vegan materials we use across our collections on our materials page.
None of these materials are cheap. They exist because researchers, scientists and manufacturers invested years developing alternatives to animal leather that actually work — that look right, feel right, last long enough to justify the price, and don't compromise on ethics. Every time you buy a pair of shoes made with these materials, you're helping fund the innovation that makes the next generation of vegan materials better and more accessible. That's not marketing language — it's how material markets actually work.
Getting it to you: the costs that are invisible until you see them
Packaging costs €2. Shipping to your door costs an average of €6 — and we absorb both of those completely. Free shipping and free returns aren't a marketing trick. They're a real cost that lives inside the price you pay.
Then there are returns. About 1 in 5 pairs of shoes we sell comes back. Every single return is received at our warehouse, inspected by a real person, cleaned, and carefully reshelved or prepared for its next owner through our Pre-Loved programme. That process has a cost — a human cost — and it lives in the price too.
We could charge for returns. Many brands do. We don't, because we think buying shoes you've never tried on is already an act of trust, and trust should go both ways.
Everything else: the part brands never mention
What remains after factory, materials, shipping and returns covers the team behind every order, the warehouse in Portugal, the designer who creates each original model exclusively for NAE, the website and technology that keeps everything running, and 18 years of building a brand that does this properly.
It's not a large margin. We're not going to pretend otherwise.
What it is, is a fair price for what you're getting — a shoe designed with original intent, made by skilled hands in Portugal, from materials that didn't exist ten years ago, shipped to your door with free returns and the knowledge that no animal was harmed in the process.
Why transparency matters right now
We're writing this article because we think you deserve to know what you're buying. Not a vague story about sustainability. Not a greenwashing checklist. The actual breakdown of where your money goes and why every part of it matters.
Research shows that consumers today are more sceptical of brand claims than ever before — and rightly so. The brands winning long-term loyalty are the ones who show their working, not just claim their values.
Transparency isn't a marketing strategy for us. It's a consequence of having nothing to hide.
So is it worth €125?
That's genuinely your decision to make. But here's what we'd ask you to consider.
A €125 NAE sneaker, worn regularly for four to five years, costs roughly €2 a month. Over that same period, the cheaper alternative — replaced every season — costs considerably more. Not just financially. In the materials that end up in landfill. In the workers paid less than a living wage to produce them. In the vegan materials market that loses a customer every time someone chooses quantity over quality.
We're not here to lecture anyone. We're just showing you the full picture. Because that's what you came here for.
The KARIO — if you want to see for yourself
The KARIO is NAE's take on the classic clean sneaker. Unisex. Timeless. Made in Portugal from Ecopure micro leather with a recycled foam insole and a natural rubber sole.
Available in white and black. If you've read this far, you already know what went into it.