If Vegan Products Don?t Use Leather, Then What Are Your Shoes Made Of?

Added: 11/19/2005

I was lying awake the other night mulling over this whole vegan thing: you know, vegans want nothing to do with animals as a food source. O-k, fine. But that carried over into using animals as a clothing source. And to me that causes problems. Because I don't think there are enough vegan products around to satisfy every whim of consumers. Especially if those consumers are vegans.

So what do vegans do when it comes to washing and dressing and everything else that doesn't fall under a food category? Where do they purchase vegan clothes? Are there really that many vegan products available? Of the course the answer is vegans do their shopping for vegan products at a vegan store. Like every other nitch market out there, a store for vegan products is a good one. A vegan store where they offer vegan products that are animal-free. Because you know, vegans don't just draw the line at food. It's EVERYTHING. I now know that somewhere out there in the entrepreneur-verse is a shop that makes shoes and belts and coats out of something besides leather. I'm not sure what the ingredient it. Is it plastic? Is it tin foil? I don't think tin foil comes from a cow. All I know is there are a lot of vegan products - vegan clothes in particular - that are made with...some secret ingredient that has nothing to do with animals.

Well, I did some digging and found out that many factories use hemp. Hemp - in case you didn't know - is a derivative of marijuana. Which, the last time I checked was illegal. I don't know how you make a shoe or a belt or a shirt out of hemp. But I found out they make rope out of hemp. So if you weave marijuana into a rope, then I guess you can create a bra or panties or a jock-strap or other forms of vegan clothes out of the stuff, right? And just think, if you get bored, you can always try to strip down and smoke your vegan clothes. Which brings me to another point of contention: the vegan will not eat any meat, but they will support the use of an illegal product to make clothing? Something doesn't taste right here and I'm not just talking about a vegan spare rib either.

I'm sure there are other ingredients out there that are the basis of many vegan products. But I think the bigger issue is one of being hypocritical. Either you follow the vegan doctrine across the board or you don't. You don't boycott the slaughter of animals as a food source and then look the other way because you're eating off a plate that includes animal charcoal or some other obscure ingredient.

Some of the vegan websites out there address this important issue by sidestepping it all together. Many sites casually mention, "just concentrate on the food aspects of veganism and don't get caught up in the small stuff". Fine with me, just don't criticize me for eating a steak and a baked potato with plenty of butter and sour cream!

I think this argument has a good side to it. Because the whole discussion about what is actually in many vegan products makes you think about the different ingredients in a lot of products on the market these days, not just vegan products. And any discussion that makes you think is a good thing. I think it's important that vegans are tuned in to the clothes they wear and the material that makes up such items.

Again, I don't necessarily agree with it, but as long as my pants weren't made by 8 year old Venezuelan boys making a dollar a day, then I'll pretty much wear anything. Speaking of which, most vegans I think are against the "sweat shop" mentality when it comes to making clothes, so they at least get my vote for that.

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