30 Missions

Mission #27: Fabulous Fashion

Dear Vegan at Heart,

Today’s mission is to check out some websites featuring fabulous, animal-free fashion.

Most people think of leather as a by-product of the meat industry. What they probably don’t know is that leather is the most economically important byproduct of the industry, according to the USDA, and that conventional tanning processes use toxic, cancer-causing chemicals such as chromium. Environmental groups have closed down most tanneries in the U.S. Unfortunately, most leather now comes from countries with few if any animal and environmental protection laws, putting animals and humans at risk.

The good news is that we have tons of leather-free options for our shoes, bags, wallets, and belts.

1. Set your timer to 10 minutes.
2. Check out any of the following websites:

North American sites:

MooShoes (Sweatshop-free to boot! To boot! Get it? Ahhh.)
Alternative Outfitters (Such a fun website)
Crystalyn Kae (Buttery soft vegan leather bags)
Matt and Nat (Great bags for guys too)
Payless (Some of my favorite shoes have come from Payless)

European/UK sites:

Bourgeois Boheme (Fantastic quality, including hard-to-find men's dress shoes)
Beyond Skin (Higher end shoes for the vegan fashionista)
Novacas (Very good taste, I think)
Vegetarian Shoes (Good solid basic shoes)

Note: all discount stores should have trendy, non-leather options. If the shoe doesn’t say man-made materials, look for a diamond symbol, which indicates it’s man-made. The stretched animal hide symbol means—you guessed it!—leather.

Happy browsing!
Marisa

P.s. What are you having for dinner tomorrow? Since tomorrow’s a gym night, I’ll do something fast: a veggie Thai peanut stir-fry using the noodles and flavor packet by Thai Kitchen.

 

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General Comment for Vegan at Heart Dear Marisa, I saw you speak at "the Meat of the Matter' panel in NYC for Climate Week. (Mia MacDonald from Brighter Green is a colleague of mine). I've never attempted a vegetarian diet much less a vegan diet but after your panel with Mia, I signed on to Vegan at Heart. I have to tell you-- my body, mind, energy, level of productivity, ect, has made a gorgeous turn around! I'm thrilled to have made this step in my personal life as well as be an example to my friends and family and have information to share with them about health but, even MORE importantly, not contributing as much to an industry that is cruel to animals and the environment. Without V@H, I would not have been able to get the ball rolling. Until I get more of a hang on the info and the habits I'll be using the daily missions I've gotten from you over the past month. Thanks again so much! I've recommended it to countless people! Cheers! Erin

Erin Hinkle (Sun, 25th Oct, 2009)

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