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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
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Black Cat
......is it ok to still use these products once I become full vegan? Thanks!! :)
Black Cat
Just wondering.... why would you even want to? :confused:
After making a personal commitment to Vegetarianism (or, better yet, Veganism)... I wouldn't think that you'd want those products anywhere around you.
Just my opinion..... :)
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
Quote:
Gary M. Thomas
...After making a personal commitment to...Veganism...I wouldn't think that you'd want those products anywhere around you.
I am prepared to intensify my post, six above.
In my pre-vegan era, I had purchased non-vegan products after seeing them being used by other people. We must never display - advertise - non-vegan products. It is a counterproductive and harmful practice.
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
im right there with you!:D
when i was ovo-lacto (for many many years) i only purchased lether, wool, ect. second hand.
now that im vegan i have these products laying around, and i occasionally wear them, but always feel bad.
i feel like i need to represent my aversion for buying such things!
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
So is it the 'advertising' of leather thats bad or the fact that you've got leather near you. Its just I've got Vegetarian Shoes' walking boots that look just like leather ones and they do jackets as well. Seen some fairly realistic fake fur too. People might think these things are real and think we're 'advertising' animal products.
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
I don't think most people notice what kind of shoes etc other people are wearing to any great extent, unless perhaps they're having one of those "Well you wear leather shoes don't you?" conversations.
I quite like the ones that say "Vegetarian Shoes" in large letters on the outside though :D Good talking point.
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
I still wear my old leather shoes but no one asks me if they are leather (except for my cynical brother). They are bright orange, if that makes a difference.
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
i shop at pretty much only thrift stores.. rarely anywhere NON-thrift store..
So, if i find a leather belt there or something like that [really that's the only thing in leather i would even consider] as well as a wool sweater or something i will buy it if i like it. This is my way of helping recycle and i don't feel bad because it's there already and it's going to get thrown out if someone doesn't buy it.
I know this can be turned around to say that i am one of those freeitarians or whatever but this is the only case where i make exceptions regarding animal products. I have a few pairs of really old shoes [skate shoes, i.e. vans and a pair of duffs] that have suede but im not going to just throw them out. I plan on wearing them out and getting complete use out of them and once they are gone they are gone.
That being said, i rarely find a wool sweater that's not disgustingly itchy and stiff, nor do i have any interest in wearing any form of leather other than some crappy preused belt or like the shoes i already have.
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
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veggiesosage
So is it the 'advertising' of leather thats bad or the fact that you've got leather near you. Its just I've got Vegetarian Shoes' walking boots that look just like leather ones and they do jackets as well. Seen some fairly realistic fake fur too. People might think these things are real and think we're 'advertising' animal products.
yes, but if im wearing old leather shoes and someone feels the need to question me, what can i say but, "yes, they are leather, but theyre old"
if im wearing vegan leather looking shoes and someone feels the need to question me, i can condfidently say, "no theyre vegan shoes, arent they cool, i got them from this website/store":D
i guess when it comes down to it, i hate the thought of wearing leather/wool/animal products...i will feel sick the entire time!
i have a beautiful (except for the angora part) angora sweater that was given to me as a gift the year before i went vegan... its a darling thing, but i just cant stand to wear it!:(
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
I was just reading in the news that the Canadian Slalom team are using a material for their Slalom suits called Spyder d3o suits. These are flexible and become hard on impact.
Check out: d3o
Perhaps a good material for bike/ or any protective gear :cool:
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Please give Feedback, cheers.
Hi,
I have been Vegan for about a year and a half now but there a few things I would like to hear feedback on. Before i turned vegan I spent about £200 - £300 on a brand new designer 100% Wool suit. I did however buy a new non-animal suit once i realised but that old suit is still in my wardrobe...
I kinda feel like i have already done the damage and nothing really can be done about that but im not sure wether i should ever wear it again just because a vegan who wear's wool would hardally seem vegan at all?
What do you think about this situation?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. :)
Thank you
xGx
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Re: Please give Feedback, cheers.
As you say "the damage has already been done" but leaving it unworn seems pointless to me. If you don't feel you can wear it again you could maybe sell it or give to to someone/a charity. Please don't feel bad about it, lots of vegans have things left over from their "old lives".
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Re: Please give Feedback, cheers.
Hi and welcome to the forums.
Wearing non vegan clothes until they are worn out is kind of standard practice after turning vegan. If it saves you buying another suit for a while then you are saving the environmental damage that making a new suit causes.
A leather jacket would be different as it would be fairly obviously made of leather - most people won't be able to tell that the suit is wool. The real danger is that many people love to try and catch vegans out with hypothetical what ifs or checking our shoes and belts.
I still have some leather boots, but I only wear them now for working outside.
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Re: Please give Feedback, cheers.
Your guilt is your conscience telling you what is right for you. Learn from it and apply it to the future - past is past.
It would be liberating to donate your suit to charity, the cost isn't worth the cost to the sheep.
I wouldn't judge you if your kept it either but the fact that your wrestling with this decision tells me you know the answer.
It's hard being true to yourself sometimes but you must.
I had a stuggle today. Every week my students (I'm in adult ed.) get a carton of milk for their tea and coffee. It's bought by the receptionist every Monday. Well, she was away this Monday so I went to buy it myself. I took it from the fridge at the back of the supermarket and as I walk to the check out, I started thinking. I figured there are worse things than for the student to have black (unfair trade) tea and coffee.
Like being raped and falling pregnant and having your baby taken away and locked up for veal and being in a stall hooked up to a milking machine and fed hormones and so you can must produce and produce until you can produce no more, despite pain and infections. When you're not donating enough milk from your teets, you are brutally slaughtered and eaten.
So, I turned right around and put the milk back.
I wouldn't want that done to me so how can I do it to another animal?
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Re: Please give Feedback, cheers.
Since it was/is a very expensive suit, if you still feel (emotionally)comfortable wearing it then keep it. :)
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Re: Please give Feedback, cheers.
Quote:
Rob(QG)
Hi and welcome to the forums.
Wearing non vegan clothes until they are worn out is kind of standard practice after turning vegan. If it saves you buying another suit for a while then you are saving the environmental damage that making a new suit causes.
Yes, I agree with this absolutely. Unfortunately cotton production (raw materials of a cotton based suit) causes a lot of environmental damage, even organic cotton is not fully environmentally friendly because of the amount of land taken for cotton production which sometimes involves habitat destruction.
Synthetic fibres are made from petroleum which is also environmentally damaging. The best fibre for the environment is recycled (secondhand) or hemp fibre (there are many outlets selling hemp clothes).
Wear your suit if you want.
If you don't want, give it away, maybe to an animal related charity.
If you sell it, you are profiting from it. Personally if I were to sell an animal derived item of clothing I would want to give the proceeds to an animal charity. Be careful to avoid any charities which raise money for medical charities as they usually test on animals.
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Re: Please give Feedback, cheers.
Quote:
Rob(QG)
Hi and welcome to the forums.
Wearing non vegan clothes until they are worn out is kind of standard practice after turning vegan. If it saves you buying another suit for a while then you are saving the environmental damage that making a new suit causes.
Hey!
I know what you mean. I have to wear a suit for work quite a bit (my colleagues wear em all the time, but they sort of regard me as a hippy law-unto-himself, so I can get away with dressing down a bit). I still have two wool suits which i can’t really afford to replace straight away, so will wear them for a bit. But I have been trying to find a good vegan alternative. Anyone got any suggestions? i’d love a hemp suit, but I’ve never seen any formal/business-type hemp clothes
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Re: Please give Feedback, cheers.
PsychoG13,
I've seen this discussed quite a few times and I'd say there's far from 100% consensus on it. I personally have only had one person ever even mention my wearing leather shoes and it was my nephew, who tries to "stir things up" and really didn't care. I do still wear my old leather shoes, but I plan to never buy any more leather/wool/silk/etc in the future. I'm not totally happy with my "compromise," but I feel it would be more wasteful to buy new shoes:confused:
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
I guess im going to still wear my suit then if nessacary, although i did throw together a new suit that is 100% cotton, i just went to a few differnt shops and bought the Blazer and trousers seperate. It is however a little weird as the trousers are black and the blazer is a dark Cream, however i think it looks rather smart together.
But i would like to be able to get something nicer, i always wanted a black suit with some furry 'leopard-skin' lining on :P lol guess ill keep dreaming about that one :P
xGx
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
There is fake "leopard-fur" clothing out there, so maybe you won't have to dream long;)
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What do you do with "old" leather goods?
Hi,
I am a recent vegan, I am wondering what do you do with your leather and wool items that you bought before you became a vegan? Have you kept them, or have you given them away? Also is silk okay or is that bad too? Sorry for the questions, if they are dumb, I am still learning here!
Amy
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Re: What do you do with "old" leather goods?
Hello, welcome! :)
Most vegans, it seems, still hold on to their old non-vegan products (like their leather) until they are worn out and need to be replaced. When they need to be replaced, they'll buy new vegan alternatives.
Silk is an animal product, so it's not vegan--was that the question?
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Re: What do you do with "old" leather goods?
Thank you Tigerlily.
I guess my question about silk was more about if the silkworm is killed or harmed in the making of the fabric? Although I suppose this isn't the issue, if it is an animal product I am to avoid it. Sorry I didn't think about that until your posting!
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Re: What do you do with "old" leather goods?
Yeah, they are killed. :(
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Re: What do you do with "old" leather goods?
i have a bunch of leather shoes that i stopped wearing the day i became vegan ( with me it's all or nothing)
i plan on having a shoe "sale"- which means digging out all of my leather shoes and inviting my same shoe size pals over to see what they want... the rest will go to the salvation army.
i am rather sad about my suede red converse one stars and my new balance running shoes... not sad enough to wear them, though:)
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Re: What do you do with "old" leather goods?
Quote:
ILoveBunnies
I guess my question about silk was more about if the silkworm is killed or harmed in the making of the fabric?
Silk is obtained from the silk-worm's cocoon (protective sheath). This is one of the stages in its life-cycle. In the next stage the cocoon breaks resulting in freeing the silk-moth.
Silk cannot be obtained after the cocoon breaks. The silk is obtained from the cocoon. In other words it needs to be extracted before the larva inside becomes a moth.
So the eggs are put into boiling water and silk is extracted from the cocoon. Hence the worm is harmed and killed in this process.
.
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
I have an old leather seat, leather boots and an old whool covert...
I prefer to keep these things that to throw them away and also buying them new and without animal products make no sense to me because i'm trying to evitate to be consumist (and also because i don't have money to buy).. The important thing for me it's not to support animal suffering..
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What should I do?
I have a major boot fetish and I have made a lot of sacrifices by becoming vegan. I have sold all my boots except one pair (I have no other footwear at the moment) The thing is I don't think I can give up my last pair. I know no one probably understands but I love them so much, they make me so happy and Ive had them for 5 years. I havnt worn anything else on my feet for that long and theres no boots like them that are not leather. I don't think I should be made to feel guilty about wearing them, especially as I am bankrupt and theres no way I can afford any other boots. Its not like Im ever going to buy any leather now that I care about these things, but cant I keep them as a reminder that we all make mistakes?
If I go to vegan festivals, will people mention them or be offended? What do you think I should do?
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Re: What should I do?
Hi Lydia.
I have given away some of my non-vegan stuff (candles, leather jacket, etc.), am still using my leather hiking boots until they wear out (I don't see the point of not, unless you find it too gross) and I have, in my loft, my original DMs with rainbow laces that I got when I was 14! I totally wore them out - half the leather has come off, there are holes in the soles, etc. (and I still wore them, I loved them so much) and have not used them for about 8 years, but I can't bring myself to throw them away (a reminder of some very happy times).
It should be up to you what you do, but I don't really see how getting rid of them now (unless they were sold and so prevented someone else buying a new pair - which is still a bit tenuous) will really make much of a difference, so I say keep 'em if you love 'em :) .
But no, I wouldn't wear leather boots to a vegan 'do' or when I was trying to impress upon others the importance of being vegan - it could make you look hypocritical and you finish up having to defend/explain yourself.
Plums
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Re: What should I do?
Although i wouldn't wear leather or anyother animal product, i think what you are doing by becoming vegan is fantastic.
Don't underestimate what you are doing because you do not want to give away one pair of boots!
I'm sure there will be loads of people who will post links and stuff to show you where you can get cheap vegan shoes etc and i would encourage you to do so also. But don't beat yourself up about not getting rid of one pair of shoes!! You are already making a big difference with the other changes you have made! :D
Oh, and although sometimes you find the pedantic 'i'm so much more of a vegan than you are' types, many of them would see your achievements for what they are and commend you for them!! Vegans who judge you or critcise you for wearing the odd piece of leather or eating the one bar of chocolate, i think, are wrong. They should be aware by now that that is not how to change peoples opinions but to encourage them!
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Re: Using old/second hand leather or wool
Thanks Plums and RedStar. I dont feels as bad now. I wont wear them to Vegan meets then, I will have to find some other shoes, Thanks a lot.
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'I bought it before i was vegan'
well i own a few clothing items that an animal was involved in somehow, like wool, leather, suede, silk and so forth. I got them before my lifestyle change and to be honest this sentence sums up my feelings.
'well throwing it all away won't undo the damage will it, may as well make the death and suffering worth the animals while'
is that right?
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Re: 'I bought it before i was vegan'
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Re: Using old non-vegan products
I had a pair of beautiful Doctor Martens that were only a year old when I turned vegan, and faced the dilemma of either giving them away or wearing them out. I thought, wouldn't it be doing a greater disrespect to the animal to not even use the things it has had to sacrifice?
If it's things like shampoo, if I was in that situation, I would try and use it up and then be committed to not buying products with animal.
Shoes-wise, only you can decide. Most people you meet would not hear your explanation for wearing out your shoes, they would only see a hypocrite.
By presenting a consistent picture, i.e. no hypocritical stuff, you may actually be able to spread veganism faster.
I ended up giving my DMs away.
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Re: Using old non-vegan products
I did the same with mine. It was actually quite hard for me. I saw my Doc's as a profession of my independence and wealth; which is interesting because when I was looking up what other vegans thought I saw mention that in America leather means wealth. I don't know that I totally believe that it is bad for the animals to wear leather, because I don't believe that they are killed for them. My veganism is partly about integrity and I reminded myself that I would never take the skin of a cow and make shoes from it, so why would I let someone else do it for me? In any event it is disrespectful.
One argument for giving your non-vegan wares away: In the case of my Doc's, some of my friends were jealous of them, and I assume they planned to buy some when they had the cash. I couldn't be responsible for more people buying leather, especially since I am not sure that it is non-harmful.
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Re: Using old non-vegan products
my mum gave me her old walking boots (leather) in about march, i became vegan end of jan/beginning of feb time
i am not too bad wearing them, as i only go walking with my family, who more than understand and persuaded me to take them, my partner, who doesnt think im a hypocrite and a group of people in my mental health drop in, who, bless, don't really know what a vegan is. i dont think i could wear them with people who i know would be difficult but most times i only wear them for proper walking so never really talk to anyone anyway (too short of breath )
it's up to how you set your standard i think. although i have given all my wool scarves away, even though they were gifts
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Re: Using old non-vegan products
I don't think this was mentioned here before.
What's your opinion on secondhand bone china? I really want to start a vintage teacup collection and a lot are made with bone china.
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Re: Using old non-vegan products
if you throw away all of your products that originally came from an animal source (wool hats, cosmetics, etc.), you aren't exploiting animals or supporting agribusiness any less, and if your true motivation for being a vegan is to minimize harm to animals, you will, in fact, use the products. if you throw away a wool hat and buy a new one made of cotton, the sheep doesn't get its wool back-- all that happens is more cotton is taken out of the environment, processed in unhealthy factories and sold to you.
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Re: Using old non-vegan products
I still own several pairs of shoes that I can only assume are non-vegan, although I don't know. I'd very much like to be able to replace them, but in this case it's a simple question of money, I don't have it. I suppose I technically won't actually be 'vegan' until I do, but as others have said, it's not like I will ever buy a non-vegan product knowingly again. Perhaps the avoiding animal products 'as much as possible' clause can apply in the case of not having the finances to replace your old non-vegan stuff.
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Re: Using old non-vegan products
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Tigerlily
I don't think this was mentioned here before.
What's your opinion on secondhand bone china? I really want to start a vintage teacup collection and a lot are made with bone china.
Just my personal opinion, but to me that would be glorifying animal products and I don't like that idea.
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Re: Using old non-vegan products
Thanks for your opinion. :)