Living Vegan For Dummies - Alexandra Jamieson [74]
Designer fashions: Cutting-edge shoe designs are available from Mink Shoes, based in Los Angeles. You can purchase trendy handbags online from Matt and Nat and in large department stores like Bloomingdales. And Stella McCartney’s clothing designs can be seen on the catwalk at fashion shows around the world. These are just a few examples of how vegan clothing has finally reached the highest levels of the fashion world.
Outdoor apparel: Synthetic down and fleece jackets offer fantastic protection from the elements, so true down coats are no longer necessary. Several outfitters nationwide — notably REI, Pangea, and Patagonia — sell hiking, snow, and camping gear in synthetic and canvas materials. And nonleather saddlebags are available for motorcycle and scooter riders from such companies as Cycleport and Motoliberty.
Sporting equipment: Don’t throw in the towel yet — order a vegan baseball glove from Rawlings or Heartland Products, Ltd. Rawlings and Spalding offer vegan versions of balls for most sports, including volleyball, soccer, and baseball.
To find vegan clothing online, try searching for “vegan clothing.” To get more specific, search for “leather-free shoes” or “non-leather shoes.” You also can sign up for vegan glamazon Chloe Jo Berman’s fabulous weekly e-zine at www.girliegirlarmy.com for the latest in stylish fashion and other vegan topics.
If you happen to find yourself in Portland, Oregon, you should know that it boasts the only 100 percent vegan mini-mall! Including a vegan grocery store, tattoo parlor, the offices of vegan publication Herbivore, and a bakery, the Vegan Mini-Mall offers a haven of vegan goodness in the Great Northwest. You can check out the mall’s location at www.veganminimall.com.
Flying away from feathers and skirting silks
Two popular materials used for clothing and housewares are very un-vegan: feathers and silk. You can find feathers on countless articles of clothing and tchotchkes, including hair accessories, boas, cat toys, and earrings. You should avoid purchasing products made with feathers. Birds of all kinds use their feathers to insulate themselves from water and weather, and some birds use certain feathers to control their movements while in flight. Birds even use found feathers in constructing their nests, so reconsider picking feathers up from the ground. Many species of gloriously colored birds have been hunted to near extinction because their feathers, so bright to attract mating partners, are desired by humans for their hats and clothing. Many birds, like peacocks, are kept alive in order to be painfully plucked periodically for their tail feathers.
Silk is shiny, but also cruel. After about a month of life, silkworms work for three to four days to spin a glorious cocoon out of over a thousand yards of a single silk strand. The cocoons are kept warm for just over a week and then steamed to kill the developing moth inside. The silk is then woven into a delicate thread and made into clothing, sheets, and various other products for human consumption. Up to 30,000 worms are killed to produce 12 pounds of raw silk.
What about wearing those old, nonvegan items?
Choosing to buy new items in vegan-only materials is the logical next step for someone eating a plant-based, animal-free diet. But what about all those leather shoes still populating your closet floor? Are you really a vegan if you still use your leather purse? Is it bad to keep wearing your animal-based clothing?
These decisions must be made by the individual. Some vegans believe that using, wearing, or consuming any animal products is not living a truly vegan lifestyle. For them, wearing old or used nonvegan clothing is unacceptable. Leather shoes are made from a dead animal, and because the animal dies in the process of producing the shoes, some vegans believe that you shouldn’t