vegan flats | My Non Leather Life

Vegan Desert Boots, Vegan Mary Janes, Vegan Cyberpunk Shoes, Thoughts on the Movement, Book Recs, and Green Smoothies

October 10th, 2012

Some things.

1. Have you heard of Toronto Pig Save? I just listened to this amazing interview with the quietly heroic founder Anita Krajnc who explains the effective activism practice of “Bearing Witness”. It is so interesting. She got the idea from reading Tolstoy who was always trying to change whatever he saw that was sad or bad in his community. She is a regular but clearly very compassionate and intelligent person who one day decided to just do something, and it grew into a movement. She is a huge reader, who talks about the Grapes of Wrath and Tolstoy during the interview.

2. Remember the interview I did with Natalie. I got the book she recommended and it is amazing. Green For Life by Victoria Boutenko. I have been drinking green smoothies daily. It is so much fun grinding up all the fruit in the vitamix. I started giving them to my dad every morning too. (I work for him). You got to read this book if you are interested in improving your health. Natalie was right that instead of worrying about GOING vegan, simply becoming aware of how unhealthy your diet may be will make you almost naturally make a shift.

3. I read the book Free The Animals by Ingrid Newkirk that the documentary Behind The Mask was inspired by. It is incredible. Five stars. It has made me more and more interested in this whole movement of people trying in various ways to help animals and change the world. It makes me want to try to do more with this blog, like perhaps trying to submit my article about how to find non leather shoes online to different blogs and stuff so that more people could realize how truly simple it is to stop buying leather shoes. It is amazing how when you truly believe in something, the motivation comes naturally, and it’s not about marketing or networking or getting more followers but helping other people and getting what you know out there so other people can know too.

4. I have found some really cool shoe options on modcloth recently.

I found

a. Vegan Desert Boots.

b. Vegan Faux Suede Chunky Heeled Mary Jane Heels.

This is a shoe I always wished I could have because they remind me of the blogger Making Magique who I did a post on here. (Though not many of the pics I tried to add showed up).

and c.

Vegan Matrix Cyberpunk Shoes

I just thought these were really really cool. Unfortunately they run small and I’m a 10-11. Amazingly these are totally vegan.

You like?

As always, find my nonleather life on facebook. And let me know if you know of any other good websites about animal rights you guys like…I’m in research mode.

-Victoria

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My Top Ten Vegan Shoe Essentials…that you can always find online.

June 12th, 2012

I’m a blogging kick today and my last post about people with cool style got me thinking.

What are the top 10 vegan shoes that are always available to buy online (unlike most shoes which have a short run and then sell out forever) that every COOL non leather loving person might want to pick up.

Here is what I came up with. I own most all of these shoes, and these are the shoes I wear all the time. They ARE how I live a non leather lifestyle in a leather loving, steak eating : ( world.

Here goes nothing!

1. Vans. There are many vans that are vegan, but not all. See my post about it: “Are Vans vegan? Yes, Some Are“. Vans are the perfect shoe for kicking around but still looking cool.

Why not go for a classic.

2. Converse. Another casual vegan shoe for kicking around that with a bit of sleuthing I determined to be almost certainly vegan. See “Once and for all, are converse vegan?“. Why converse? They are the ultimate classic shoe. They always look cool. I prefer off white.

3. Doc Martens. The vegan ones. They’re on the brain! I’d get the black classic 8 eye boots or whatever they’re called. Reusing a picture:

If only doc martens did floral vegan versions…I would buy in a heartbeat.

alas.

4. Loafers. I wear my vegan loafers all the time! They are …sadly unavailable from modcloth where I picked them up. They are so comfortable and I wear them as sneakers. If you are so inclined, check out my post on vegan pennyloafers: “At last, vegan pennyloafers and the history of preppy style according to me“.

For an alternative, what do you think about the idea of buying vintage bass loafers which are leather on ebay? I personally do not feel I would do this as I am trying to make a statement by not wearing leather, but I think it is ok to buy vintage leather shoes as your money is not supporting any business perpetuating animal cruelty.

5. Hunter rain boots. I wrote about them in my post “Hunter Rain boots: Ironically, Vegan“. Lol much? So many people in new york seem to have these and for good reason. In the winter, these are now the boots I wear in heavy snow. They are rainproof so they never get soggy, and they make you feel invincible in knee high puddles. PLus they give off a cool Kate Middleton/Prince William/Prince Charles/Nancy Mitford/English countryside vibe. Perfect for anglophiles such as myself. And of course, they’re totally vegan.

6. What about some saddle shoes. I love mine, although sometimes they make me feel a bit silly. Only wear when you are feeling uber stylish. I’m proud of the post I wrote on saddle shoes “Vegan saddle shoes and some awesome saddle shoe style inspiration“. Have you seen Moonrise Kingdom? I thought it was incredible–Anderson’s best yet, and that’s coming from a huge Wes Anderson fan whose favorite movie of all time is Bottle Rocket. Well as you know, Suzy, the main character, wears saddle shoes, or Sunday school shoes as they refer to them in the flick. So now you know why these are cool.

you can always buy them at payless. Just google vegan saddle shoes. They’re less than $20.

7. You should get some high heels for looking hot. I would recommend looking at 3 places.

Modcloth–look for heels around $50 or under and then read the materials.

Urban outfitters–same deal. Read the materials.

Forever 21 shoes. These are all vegan (with 1 exception i saw once).

I found these vegan babies just now at forever 21.

They’re only $24. 80 and like almost everything at forever 21, vegan. So get a cool pair of heels so you can be that person who can hang out in sneakers or can rock a pair of heels–as is so annoyingly stated on every guy’s online dating profile. I’m on okcupid! and annoyed by it.

As you might guess…..

8. You’ve got to get some sandals for the summer. Oh how I wish they made saltwaters in vegan form. Or those cool swedish hasbeens. I’m weird but I would get Jelly’s! I think these shoes are really cool, and so fun to wear. I wrote about them here: “A patriotic shoe for vegans: Jelly Sandals“. I called them patriotic since they are so obviously vegan, being made entirely of rubber. I love mine.

Check my post for a link to the topshop ones I got, or simply google jellies.

9. Let’s put one on here for the guys, in case any of you reading this are guys or have significant others who would look super SEXY in pink and teal shoes from none other than honestly the coolest vegan brand around Good Guys Don’t Wear Leather. I wish I had a boyfriend that I could buy these shoes for. I mean, of course I want the pink and blue for myself but I think they would look so cool on a guy. Check out my latest post on the good guys “The MYsteries of Spring Cleaning and Good Guys Don’t Wear Leather: their offerings and vision” .

Good Guys don’t wear Leather SS12

Image of APONI Pink

and check out their tumblr which i love.

and 10. Ok guys, I have to go. But what do you think 10 should be? Any suggestions?

Hope you have enjoyed this! Let me know what you think.

With fond affection,

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