This website is for people suffering from shoe allergies. It is the result of my personal quest to find shoe manufacturers that do not use para-tertiary butyl phenol formaldehyde resin (PTBP-FR) in their shoes, after I was diagnosed with an allergy to this glue in the summer of 2006. This site currently includes information for people who are allergic to PTBP-FR and potassium dichromate (chrome). However, if you are allergic to something else, please visit this page for more information.
USEFUL PRODUCT! A user of this website alerted me to the existence of the following product which may be useful for sufferers of shoe allergies: Microair® Barrier Socks by Alpretec. These are worn under regular socks and prevent harmful substances from coming into contact with the skin on your feet. These socks are sold in Europe, Australia and Canada. For a list of distributors, please visit this page.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! In order to add more shoe manufacturers to the existing lists - and to create new lists for people suffering from different types of shoe allergies - I need your help! If you're willing to email a few shoe manufacturers to ask them whether a particular allergen is used in their shoes, please let me know.
SHOE REVIEWS! If you buy a pair of shoes from a manufacturer listed on this website, please go to the 'email me' page to review it. To read other people's reviews, look out for the 'Reviews' icon on the PTBP-FR and potassium dichromate lists. The purpose of these reviews is to help users of this website in their shoe-buying decisions: knowing that several other shoe allergy sufferers have bought shoes from a particular manufacturer and have not reacted to them (and vice versa!) is quite helpful when contemplating what shoes to buy.
SHOPPING GUIDES! This website has worldwide shopping guides for PTBP-FR-free and chrome-free shoes. If you have located some PTBP-FR-free or chrome-free shoes in your area, please share your shoe finds with other users of the website; information can be added to the shopping guides by emailing me.
Finally, please do make use of the message board - to share your experiences of coping with shoe allergies, to ask questions, to get advice, and so on.
Last updated 6 July 2013