At VOES we stand for love

Voes & Co. is a visionary premium Vegan lifestyle company that stands for love, compassion, and conscious living. With a mission to reshape the fashion industry, Voes & Co. is committed to using ethically sourced, sustainable, and 100% vegan materials in their designer fashion, footwear, and accessories.

At the heart of Voes & Co. is a deep-rooted belief in promoting kindness and compassion towards the planet, animals, and all living beings. They envision a world where no animals are harmed for fashion, food, or any form of human gain. Through their creativity and dedication, Voes & Co. aims to contribute to the creation of this compassionate world.

With an unwavering commitment to not using leather, suede, or any other animal-based materials, Voes & Co. pioneers a new path in fashion. Their designs reflect the harmonious fusion of style and ethics, catering to conscious consumers who seek cruelty-free and sustainable alternatives without compromising on quality or aesthetics.

Voes & Co. embraces gratitude, mindfulness, and playfulness as guiding principles, infusing these values into every aspect of their brand. By choosing Voes & Co., individuals can make a powerful statement, expressing their love and respect for all living beings while embracing a fashion-forward, cruelty-free lifestyle.

Join Voes & Co. on their journey as they redefine fashion, advocating for a kinder, more compassionate world. Together, let us celebrate the beauty of conscious living and inspire positive change through love and compassion.

Meatless Movement recently had the privilege of speaking with the founder of Voes & Co.

Tell us more about yourself, please

Hi, I’m Desirée and I truly live from my heart. I focus my time and energy on endeavours that provide meaning, purpose and that really light me up.

I am a creative spirit and I live off of inspiration. I currently have two brands that I am running along with an international NGO that I co-founded with my best friend.

I’m the founder of a seaweed-based CPG food company called Kove which I now own and operate with 4 partners. It is so refreshing to work with people who truly value harmony, balance and sustainability in terms of life and the planet.

My other company is a vegan fashion brand called Voes & Co which was founded from my vision to create a global icon for the movement based on love and compassion known as Veganism. The first product I’ve developed is a Chelsea boot made with Cactus leather.

Lastly, I am currently Chair of the board for Ruben’s Shoes Society, a registered Charity which was created when my best friend met the boy she had been sponsoring for 7 years (Ruben) and learnt that children around the world cannot go to school unless they have shoes; along with many other elements including a uniform and school supplies.

Since inception in 2013, we’ve sent 100,000 pairs of shoes around the world to help children access education and now have an Elementary school and Secondary school with over 550 students that we fund and operate in the Dominican Republic.

In terms of location, I’m currently living home-free (meaning my partner and I packed up all of our stuff into storage) and have been living and working from different cities around the world as digital nomads.

How does Voes & Co actively promote the message of love, kindness, and compassion for the planet, animals, and all living beings through its designer fashion, footwear, and accessories?

At Voes & Co our mission is to advocate for kind, compassionate, conscious living, through ethically sourced, sustainable, 100% vegan, designer fashion, footwear and accessories. My vision is for Voes & Co to be the globally recognised icon for Veganism; representing a movement and a lifestyle based on love, kindness, and compassion for the planet, animals and all living beings. We believe in a world where no animals are harmed for fashion, food or any type of human gain.

Our entire company and brand was created to provide consumers with vegan options that are healthier for the planet. Accessible designer footwear not made from animals and not made from plastic. It’s wonderful that more and more people are choosing cruelty-free products and the vegan movement has gained so much momentum; now we need more options that are not-only cruelty free but are also healthy for the planet.

Rethinking fashion. We are 100% committed to not using leather, suedeor any other animal-based material in our designs
VOES & CO. VEGAN FASHION

Our first product is our Harlow boot which is a designer Chelsea boot made with Cactus leather. We currently have a black version and are coming out with a white version this summer and continuously working on more designs.

We’ve decided to work with cactus leather for the environmental benefits. Cactus is a regenerative plant that requires very little water and has a very low environmental impact. Cactus grows in the dry heat and quenches any thirst it has naturally with rain water. Cactus naturally regenerates soil and is a tough and resilient species, adaptable to extreme conditions and able to survive in areas where nothing else will grow.

Beyond this, cactus is a natural carbon sink, it has a great CO2 sequestering capacity. For the processing of the leather, only the mature leaves of the Cacti are cut and one plant is able to continue to produce for 8 years. Furthermore, the cut leaves are dried under the sun for 3 days, so there’s no additional energy used in the drying process.

Using cactus as a material is a much healthier option for the planet, in comparison to animal leather which requires 17,100L of water per kg of leather in addition to the chromium and sulphide concentrations and the pesticides which are often added to keep mould growth down during transportation, along with all of the toxic materials used in tanning.

I started Voes & Co because I wanted to limit the amount of plastic (PU) in vegan fashion; Cactus leather is a step in the right direction but it is still not perfect. Currently, the cactus leather is up to 55% organic plant-based content with water based finishes. The cactus leather is made in combination with bio-polyurethane which is partially made with biological origin material from vegetable products.Our mission is to continually investigate and push for the most environmentally healthy material that can uphold the integrity of our footwear and maintain our quality, durability and comfort standards., and we are exploring other materials that are made with plants and material that can be made from agricultural waste and be fully biodegradable.

Our mission is to advocate for kind, compassionate, conscious living, through ethically sourced, sustainable, 100% vegan, designer fashion, footwear and accessories
VOES & CO. VEGAN FASHION

I have an entrepreneurial spirit, I had been running my own businesses for 10 years and Voes & Co was created as a solution to a problem I had been personally facing as a vegan woman.

When I learnt about the atrocity of the animal agriculture industry in 2008 I stopped eating and wearing animal products. Over time, I began to be increasingly frustrated and disappointed with the lack of options for designer footwear not made with leather or suede.

The only options available at the time were synthetic shoes made of petroleum based material such as PU and PVC. As I began to learn even more about the animal agriculture industry and the devastating harmful effects it has on the planet, I realised I didn’t want to trade one harmful product for another, saving animals by not buying leather but then harming the environment by purchasing synthetic leather.

As a woman who loves fashion and footwear it was my frustration and the lack of options available that inspired me to take it into my own hands and launch my own brand with ethically made sustainable designer footwear.

My Voes Harlow Chelsea boots are unique because they offer vegan luxury at an accessible price and do not sacrifice quality or comfort. They are one of the only if only, designer Chelsea boots made in a 100% vegan factory with Cactus Leather. In terms of style and comfort, these boots feature a high-end designer look and can easily be dressed up or dressed down.

We’re on a mission to end animal exploitation and help heal our planet. Join us!
VOES & CO. VEGAN FASHION

Voes & Co has been 7 years in the making! I first had the idea in 2016 when I got fed up with having to purchase cheap synthetic shoes and came to the conclusion that if there were no options available I’d have to do it myself.

I came up with the name and the concept in late 2016 on a road trip and didn’t do much with it for about 18 months until the summer of 2018 when I registered the company and started to design a website and work on the design of the Chelsea boots I wanted to create.

The following 18 months were spent researching material suppliers and designs off the side of my desk. I actually had a ton of friends and family who knew what I was trying to do send me articles about cactus leather that had just launched.

Fast forward another few months, by 2019 I had decided on the material and found a private label manufacturer in New York that could produce a prototype.

In January of 2020 I hired this manufacturer in New York to send me a prototype and of course we all know what happened a few short weeks later in February 2020. This put Voes & Co on hold for several months and added to the length of time it has taken to bring this brand to life! Eventually, I received my prototype and fell in love with the boot.

From there I ran a kickstarter campaign that helped me raise money for the first small beta production run. However, in the spring of 2020, when my life had come to a standstill; I had nothing but time on my hands and I was blessed with an opportunity to join a seaweed company and launch a CPG food brand.

This opportunity aligned with every one of my values and my only hesitation was that I didn’t want it to get in the way of focusing on my dream… of course, taking on a full-time job impacted my ability to work on Voes & Co and is one of the reasons – in addition to working through Covid – that added essentially another 2 years to the development of the brand and has taken until now for Voes & Co to be where it is, to have launch publicly and be working with a new trusted manufacturing partner to provide timely production runs and have full inventory.

I‘d love to give a shout out to the two ladies, Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, who are the authors of a book called Skinny Bitch. Skinny Bith was published in 2005 and is one of the first books to expose the animal agriculture industry by including graphic information about where meat comes from.

I picked up this book at YVR Vancouver Airport on my way to Maui with my best friend Kelly. I had always been interested in nutrition and I was excited to educate myself more about food and what I was putting into my body.

As I began to read more of the book and read excerpts out to Kelly we were both completely horrified and appalled with what we were learning about the treatment of animals. We had been living in ignorance not understanding what meat actually is and how a piece of meat ended up on our plate. Our minds were immediately awakened and changed on the spot.

Neither of us ever planned or expected to become vegan; however knowing what we now knew, we both converted to veganism immediately. I am so grateful for Skinny Bitch for opening my eyes in 2008 and for my best friend Kelly for being my right hand animal lover, advocate and vegan counterpart.

VOES is a premium Vegan lifestyle company that exists
to promote kind, compassionate, conscious living, through ethically sourced, sustainable, 100% vegan designer fashion, footwear and accessories
VOES & CO. VEGAN FASHION

I refer to my Voes & Co Harlow chelsea boots like the sisterhood of the travelling pants (instead of pants they are shoes) because the main feedback I’ve received is that they fit everyone perfectly from people with the smallest hard-to-shop-for feet, size 5, to women that have larger or wider feet and equally have a hard time finding footwear that fits comfortably. I’ve been told by my customers that they have worn my boots while travelling and exploring all around Paris, for entire days at conferences and events, and that the boots are so comfortable they feel like slippers.

We believe in a world where
no animals are harmed for fashion, food or any type of human gain.
VOES & CO. VEGAN FASHION

I’ve been watching this movement over the past 15 years and in my opinion I believe the reason that meatless diets have really taken off is because vegetarianism has hit the 3rd wave and has now become personal.

The first wave of vegans/vegetarians were and are the original animal lovers, people who do not eat meat because they love and respect animals and cannot fathom eating them.

The second wave began around 2015 with the rise of awareness of the harmful environmental impacts the animal agriculture industry has on the planet and people began reducing meat not only for animal ethical reasons but also for environmental reasons.

What really catapulted the movement was with the release of documentaries like the Game Changers and the awareness around personal health and nutrition. Not only has there been so much education and awareness about nutrient content (ie protein) in a vegan diet but there has also been alot of education around the harmful personal health impacts of animal products such as red meat, pork and dairy (such as Cancer, Heart disease, Diabetes).

There is now so much awareness around all 3 of these factors that has propelled innovation that now there is no lack in the availability and accessibility of tasty, affordable vegan meat and dairy products.

Vegan food is the easiest food to come by, it is simply whole foods from the earth provided by nature. I encourage people to shop only in the fresh produce section and fill their plates with veggies, legumes, grains, nuts, seeds and fruits. Most of the developing world lives off of vegan food..for example.. beans, rice and tomatoes. In terms of nutrition, the best way to get all of the nutrients our body needs is to eat the rainbow and have a super colourful diet. People are so focused on protein, which we are now very well aware that protein is very easy to come by on a vegan diet, and should be more concerned about getting enough Iron, Fibre, Vitamins A, B, C, D, E, Iodine, Magnesium all elements that come from plants.

I also want to touch on soy and two misconceptions..
VOES & CO. VEGAN FASHION

The first one is that soy is full of estrogren and is not healthy to eat as it causes cancer. The truth is that soy comes from soybeans and is made of isoflavones, which are a type of plant estrogen that is structurally different from the estrogen in our bodies. Plant-based estrogen does not convert into the estrogen our bodies make when we eat it.

Our bodies make estrogen, a hormone, to keep our reproductive and other internal systems humming along. Estrogen can fuel certain cancers, like some breast cancers and prostate cancers. Our body’s estrogen is different from the type of estrogen found in soy, which is called phytoestrogren. So plant-based estrogen doesn’t drive cancer growth the same way that our own estrogen does. Soy does not raise estrogen or lower testosterone levels in men; to the contrary, soy is actually extremely nutritious and can be helpful for both preventing cancer and reducing its recurrence.

The second one is that soy is a monocrop and growing soy is destroying the amazing.. To this I will share that studies have shown that almost 80% of the world’s soybean crop is fed to livestock, especially for beef, chicken, egg and dairy production (milk, cheeses, butter, yogurt, etc).

Our intention is to contribute to creating a world based on love, kindness, and compassion for the planet, animals, and all living beings through creativity and designer fashion.
VOES & CO. VEGAN FASHION

My vision is for Voes & Co (V&) to be the globally recognized icon for Veganism which represents the kindest, most compassionate way of living. I am working on launching a designer Chelsea boot for all the men out there who have been asking and my goal is to create designs for all of the staples every person needs in their closet (such as a classic heel and a classic pair of flats). The line will continue to be simple, stylish, and elegant.

The more support I have from clients, the more I can support my suppliers who are creating sustainable, plant-based, low-impact materials and running vegan manufacturing factories.

Simply purchasing one product drives impact all the way down through the supply chain. I believe that the only real way to drive change is by voting with our dollars. The more we spend on ethical, sustainable vegan products, the more we can impact the world in a positive way.

Beyond this, for every pair of vegan plant-based animal-based boots that is purchased, that is one less pair of leather boots being sold, which means lower demand for animal-based products. Essentially by stopping the purchase of products, and decreasing demand, together we can swing the pendulum in the right direction and begin to eliminate harmful producers and entire industries.

Our intention is to use our profitability to give-back to as many organisations as we can that rescue and save animals along with environmental causes that are working on taking care of the planet.