Jitterbugbaby just blogged about Natalie Portman’s new vegan shoe line for Te Casan and it looks like Natalie’s making her footprint in the world in more ways than just one.

The lovely Natalie Portman is also a sponsor for an organization called Shoe4Africa. The shoe program is pretty simple. By donating your worn shoes to Africa, Shoe4Africa will shod Africans with your footwear. They also compliment the shoe exchange with health, self-esteem, and awareness programs.

From the Shoe4Africa website, I was amazed to learn a very sad statistic. “…92% of Kenyan children tested had hookworm, which enter the body through exposed bare feet.” So before you toss out you old tennis shoes that you think no one would want, I think it’s important to make a difference and send them to Africa instead. Here’s the address to send your shoes.

Shoe 4 Africa
c/o Monicah Kiplagat
PO Box 6943
Eldoret, Kenya

I have a friend collection shoes for Kenya [shoe4africa.org] - each pair that’s worn will cut down the spread of the disease. It’s about doing something constructive. If you’re going to buy $200 Nikes then spend $7 to send your old shoes to Africa. It’s a nice balance. - - Natalie Portman

And here’s a video about the Shoe4Africa organization:

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They’re here! Well, they’re here for pre-order at the Te Casan website.

Yes, I’m talking about Natalie Portman’s line of vegan shoes.

The first styles from the new line are up on the site, and you can preorder them to your heart’s content (well, up to the 100 pair per style per size limit, that is).

Personally, I’m not blown away by any of them. They’re a bit on the simple side for my taste, but they are indeed classy and dressy and presumably higher quality than a lot of the other vegan lines out there, which are often made with pretty poor materials just because they happen to not come from animals.

Let’s take a look, shall we.

The Pippa mary jane pump ($325) looks particularly snazzy in this silver.

The Pia ballet flat ($185) is cute with its little strap across the toes.

And… well… those are the only two I particularly liked. The rest just seem a tad too basic, although I recognize that may well be the point: to provide vegan shoe lovers an option for classy, basic, well-made shoes. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

I’ll certainly keep my eyes open to see what future styles come down the pike.

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Since we are on the verge of a new year, I thought it would be fitting for this week’s edition of ‘This Week in Shoes’ to be a time for 2007 reflection and have us look forward to what type of shoes will be offered in 2008.

Over at Red Carpet Fashion Awards, the stylishly and prolific Fashion Critic has been summarizing some of the best and worse looks for 2007. Her picks for Shoe of the Year and Shoe Designer of the Year were on the money and we were honored to have the opportunity to share our thoughts on her site.

Here’s are some shoes to look forward to in 2008:

• Shoetube.tv launches in February of 2008. The site has been enticing me with the following description “Get ready for the most exciting thing to happen to shoes since Carrie found those coveted Manolo Blahniks in the closet at Vogue. Shoetube.tv will be the destination on the web where women will gather to share their passion for shoes.” I can’t wait to see what content-rich shoe multimedia will be shown!

• The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Dr James Stoxen and Converse are working on a naked shoe that gives your feet room to flex.

• Move over Stella! The talented Natalie Portman is releasing her own line of vegan shoes at TeCasan.  The Natalie Portman Collection will be available for preorder starting January 15th and will have a release date of February 2008.

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