Vegans: did you ever own leather items? Handbags, shoes, etc.? If so, how did you

[Flaxbee]

transition those pieces?

Did you give them away / donate them?

Keep them and wear them, even though you didn't buy any new leather / wool / etc. items?

Most of my shoes are leather, and I have other leather items (handbags, a jacket) from when it wasn't an issue with me (my personal life of denial - 'dark ages'). I am making a huge effort not to buy new leather (haven't in a long time) but some of my pieces are very functional -- I don't have the money to give away all my shoes, or a winter coat, in order to start over with ethical items.

And, I would wear ethical merino wool. Have to source that; I just won't buy leather anymore.

So - unless you were a vegan from a very very early age - what did you do with your animal-product items?

I realize the best thing to do is to just replace items that wear out with new, non-leather ones. I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that donating the leather jacket and bags is probably my next step...

[liberalmuse]

1. Keep them - and only buy from secondhand stores.

But it is really up to the individual.

[Flaxbee]

3. We don't have great second hand stores here -- most of the clothes are cast-off WalMart or Target

items, and I actually do really enjoy fashion if it's ethically produced.

Pisses me off NO END that Stella McCartney's line is so damn expensive.

[freshwest]

9. Same here. I've seldom bought leather most of my life. It was given to me or second-hand.

[Warpy]

2. Not all vegans are animal rights enthusiasts

I was a vegan for some years because I felt much better when I didn't eat animal products. However, I'm a fiber artist who uses wool, cashmere, rabbit fur, dog hair, and camelid & musk ox hair, something the animal rights people find reprehensible (even though musk ox hair is found on vegetation during molting season, I'd hate to try to shave one of those things). My feet tended to sweat horribly in plastic shoes, so the few pairs I owned were at least partially leather.

Not eating the flesh, eggs or milk and avoiding the byproducts are two separate issues. You can certainly do the former without having to do the latter.

[Flaxbee]

4. I don't like the animal-product industry. The animals are treated horribly, and I am definitely

an animal-rights backer.

But I don't mind people "using" horses to ride them, or "using" cows for dairy products if the cows are treated with love and care. Same with chickens and any other animals / creatures we source from. Wool is fine with me if it is derived humanely, or - as you noted - just gathered during molting. Or, if you use the hide of an animal after it has died a natural death. Fine. Well-produced wool is a much better environmental product than the majority of cotton out there, and far better than synthetic products that are produced using way too damn much water and polluting chemicals. Wool lasts longer and is really an excellent fiber IF the animals are treated not just humanely, as I've said, but with respect and utmost care.

I also don't really have a problem with people who want to eat meat, IF they buy from farms that raise their animals well and guarantee that their slaughter was immediate and painless. I won't eat meat anymore, but I won't argue with people who say that humans are omnivores. But that doesn't mean every meal needs to have meat, or meat should be eaten every day, and that doesn't mean animals should be treated hideously just so Person X can have bacon. The selfishness of it drives me insane.

Humans just eat way too damn much meat. There is no moderation. If there were, we could guarantee the world had plenty of food and materials derived from animals that had great lives and pain-free deaths.

[flvegan]

6. LOL! Good one. n/t

[Codeine]

5. I never thought about it,

but on reflection I never really owned much out of leather. When I was a kid I wore high-top canvas Converse pretty much exclusively, even while playing sports. The only belt I recall owning back then was the fabric type. Our family was too poor to ever buy me a leather jacket.

I had a leather coaster I made with my mom's leather-working tools (she made horse equipment and decorated saddles) and a leather wallet when I was really young, but by my teen years I had a fabric wallet with velcro. At 19 I went vegan, so nothing since, of course.

[flvegan]

7. My advice: stop trying to live up to something.

When they wear out or the time comes to replace them, then do so if you can. Otherwise, don't waste a product you can use that doesn't further cause harm that you're already using.

The animals we hope to help don't judge, and honestly, neither should we.

If you live a vegan lifestyle now, but have a leather jacket or shoes? Consider what that animal might think now. And consider what you are doing right f'ing now that helps.

[Flaxbee]

8. Thanks. That helps.

I often fall into the trap of "should have done" rather than what I'm doing now / trying to do now. And no matter how much angst I feel today, I can't change my past.

I certainly don't want to waste that life.

[LeftyMom]

10. At first I just started replacing them as they wore out.

Eventually I felt like a bit of an idiot standing in front of the veggie burger case at the food co-op with leather shoes on (even though I doubt anybody noticed or cared, it bothered me) so I donated the few things I had left.

edit: I don't think there's a right or wrong answer, provided you're not pitching thing somebody could use, and you're not buying more animal products. Whether you wear those things out or somebody else does, that's really a matter of personal preference.

[RebelOne]

11. I am not a vegan, but I am a vegetarian.

Before that I had a lot of fur pieces. I gave them all away.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

12. If you have something that is good quality -

and has a long life ahead of it, I would keep it and use it until it becomes unusable. For me, better to use something that is already here, not something new that requires manufacturing and the possible use of petrochemicals/etc. I have a pair of suede apre-ski boots form the 1960s --they look amazing, fit me great, and I've only had them resoled once in 25+ years of owning them (they were used when I got them). To me that is animal and planet friendly.