One of the pillars of our vegan sneakers brand is helping to achieve a society where animal rights are respected so they have a dignified life, free from exploitation, abuse and testing.
For this reason, we collaborate with FAADA. The Spanish non-profit foundation whose mission is to promote respect for animals in social, legal and educational spheres. For example, if they find any animal living in bad conditions they take legal actions to change this situation, situations that can happen from any house to a circus or zoo. We are so proud of their work and we recommend to stay tuned at their social media channels where they expose causes that everyone can help from an easy online signature.
Also we have a partnership with Protectora de Barcelona, a local and independent sanctuary that take in abandoned, homeless and/or abused animals until they find the perfect family to spend the rest of their life with. We love to visit them and create a real bond with the staff and the animals, you can check on Instagram the reel we made of our last visit.
Thanks to these collaborations, with each pair that we sell, we are also helping abandoned and rescued animals to find a new home and a perfect family. So we'd love to write this post about the importance of adopting, instead of buying, an animal.
First of all, why is important to adopt?
- Only in Spain, in 2019, 306.000 dogs and cats were picked up by animal shelters. The main reasons are unwanted litters of puppies and kittens, animal behaviour problemans and the end of the hunting season (Fundación Affinity, 2020). Unfortunately, most of these animals aren't adopted and they will spend the rest of their life without knowing what is to have a family and real love.
Consequently, most of the shelters are full and they cannot come in new animals. So any time someone is adopting an animal, it's also helping another one as it's leaving an empty space for the new one, without the need of slaughter which unfortunately still happens nowadays.
- When buying an animal, you are also promoting the exploitation and abuse of them. Females are used to reproduce as if they were machines until they can no longer breed. Then, they are abandoned or slaughtered. And if the breeder is ilegal they don't take care of the animal conditions and sell them with many illnesses and problems. Thanks to adoption, this situation could go to an end.
- The perfect match exists with an adopted animal. When rescuing a dog or a cat, you aren't limited to a breed, you are opened to many options that definetely one of them will be the perfect new family member.
Not convinced enough? Below you can find true stories from our globe-trotters who decided to adopt a new family member, starting from our own experience.
"We adopted Kygo, our dog, last year when he was two months old. He was born during the COVID-19 lockdown in Spain and from the moment he was born, his owners didn’t want him, neither his siblings. Luckily an animal shelter rescued them and found each puppy a nice family and home.
Since day one, we’ve been so happy to have a new family member. We decided to adopt an amstaff even knowing all the prejudices regarding this dog breed and we know we’ll never regret this decision.
Far from being aggressive, he is so grateful, affectionate and happy. He loves to spread kisses and his favourite hobby is sleeping as close as possible to us. When we walk with him through the street he greatly enjoys when somebody pets him or compliments him. And any time we meet a person with a similar dog, we constantly share the same thought “it’s a pity that people think these dogs are bad”."
Alexandra, Sergio & Kygo
"Jack, gordito, ratoncio,... since he came into my life I've never been alone, he's always happy to see me even if I leave for 5 minutes, always cheerful, always ready to go out, ready for a walk or for an excursion, and above he's always ready to eat. It's the first face I see when I wake up and the last one before I go to bed.
Without hesitation he has made me happier.
Why adopt? Because there are many abandoned animals willing to love and make themselves loved. If you take a look to all of them, you'll see that they are all great!"
Mimi & Jack
"With Thor we learn every day. After being locked in a cage for more than 8 years, he is still a very grateful dog, who is happy every time he sees us and is very protective. At the beginning he was shy and wouldn’t even bark but he adapted so easily and he is SO good with everyone. There are always doubts when you bring an adopted dog into your home, but with Thor it has been a very easy path. It has been a very wise decision, and even though we were told that it is rare for a young couple to adopt a dog over 10 years old, we could not be more proud and happy to have him with us, he is family. Everyone says that he is so lucky to have us, but honestly I think we are the luckiest."
Carla, Hector & Thor
"After a year sharing moments with Snatch and more than 10 with Hiro, they keep each other company when we are not at home ... And considering that according to Google we were not going to get them to be friends... We cannot be happier with the decision to adopt them both, we've created a diverse and peculiar family that we are very proud."
Laura, Mauro, Snatch & Hiro
"We are Sol and David. We adopted Kylo and Obi on January 2020, it was a rushed decision but one of the bests we've ever made.
Our cat, Kuro, had recently died unexpectedly at a young age. We missed him a lot and we thought it was too early to welcome a new cat just yet.
However, Encarna, one of the volunteers at the animal shelter had a different idea.
A week after we told her about Kuro, she found a layer of 4 kittens who needed a new home. Two of them had been lucky enough to find a place to go but the other pair was still waiting and she thought we would be a good fit for them.
We were very reluctant at first but we decided to meet kittens anyway. As soon as we saw them playing and running around the shelter, we realised we really wanted to take them home with us that same afternoon.
When they first got home they were a little shy, especially Obi. Luckily, they adapted really quickly to their new home and their new human housemates.
A year and a half latter - a very particular year and a half later- we are really thankful to Encarna for introducing the sweetest, most fun cats to us.
If you are thinking about adopting a pet, don't hesitate, your furry friend will bring joy and the good kind of mess to your home"
Sol, David, Kylo & Obi
"Having Coca and Taxi in our lives means feeling constantly loved. We adopted both of them, and there is no better feeling in the world that knowing that, when you get home, no matter how good or bad your day was, they will be there, waiting to give you their whole attention and love. They are part of our family and we simply cannot imagine our life without them. Adopting means giving them a new chance at life, and we feel we helped them just as much as they did with us."
Laura, Tomeu, Coca & Taxi
All of these stories have a happy ending; even though many animals, especially dogs and cats, are abandoned and end up in shelters where sadly wait to find someone to take care of them. We hope that these experiences hold an example of how adopting an animal can change your life and the life of an animal. And if you are planning to increase your family with a pet, please consider adopting before buying and before rejecting one for its appearance, age or breed, give it a chance and you will change its life and surely yours too.
