vegan shoes | My Non Leather Life

I’m Back.

January 27th, 2011

A new comment has made me spring back to life.

A commenter Rebekah wrote:

Blogging is HARD. All the research and fiddling with technical details, and sometime no one comments at all. But you CAN make a difference, and you ARE.

Yay. That is so sweet. Some comments of late have made me realize that people are still looking and failing to find vegan shoes, and as Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PETA says, ONE can make a difference (that’s the name of a book she wrote). So with that in mind, I am going to update you all on some good new vegan shoes that have become available, while I’ve been Out Of Commission.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Forever 21 is the BEST source for cool vegan shoes on the web. Unfortunately they are what I call “unintentionally vegan” because they do not have animals interests at the forefront and are not a vegan company, however they have great styles and I almost never see leather used in any of their shoes. When there is leather in a shoe it is marked in the title as Leather or Suede, as far as I know. I saw 2 shoes out of hundreds that were real leather. I think this is mostly in the interest of keeping their costs low though, as opposed to some sort of awareness of the Leather Industry, but at least it means all their shoes are extremely cheap.

If only Forever 21 were a vegan shoe company, vegans would have a great resource for affordable, cool vegan shoes but at the same time, they’d know their money was supporting a company with the interests of animals in mind. Maybe this fantasy company could even work towards educating people about the leather industry and giving part of their money to animal rights causes.

Well, here are the shoes.

I will simply post some photos of the shoes I like with links to their page on Forever 21.

Tell me what you think of the shoes/ this post in the comments as I LOVE to hear from commenters. I’d love to know, what would your ideal vegan shoe company look like?

I love floral shoes. available here

wow

not summer yet though…here.

very la dolce vita. buy here.

as are these.

so are these. very Roman woman.

am i crazy? so are these.

a classic shoe everyone could use.

on sale for $15

jcrew like classic ankle boots for $30

I like this shape. These remind me somehow of Monica Lewinsky. In a good way.

Well, that’s all! What do you think?

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Ultimate Fantasy Vegan Shoes

November 19th, 2010

My dear readers,

Thanks so much for the responses to my post about why you are a vegan or a vegetarian. It was really helpful to read others views on the matter. Today I’m wondering, if you were a vegan shoe designer and you could design one pair of vegan shoes….whether it was a vegan copy of leather shoes you have been always wanting to wear…or the perfect fantasy shoe you have always imagined wearing….what would it be? If you could add one pair of vegan shoes to the market, what would they be?

Here’s my answer:

1. I would design a fake leather version of a moccasin. I don’t know what it is about these shoes, but I’ve always loved them. Whether it is my fantasy of being a Native American or living in an L.L. Bean catalog, moccasins–the ultimate leather shoe…sometimes even made from deer, goat or moose hide (gross)– have always been shoes I’ve longed to own.

2. My second shoe would be a Vegan penny loafer. This desire definitely comes from my preppy fantasies of attending the Ivy Leagues as a male in the fifties and sixties. Has anyone read Take Ivy? They’re all wearing penny loafers, and I believe these must be the ultimate preppy shoes. I would wear them the proper way–with shorts and without socks in the spring and summer, with knee socks in the fall, and with dresses in the winter for the prep school X-mas parties. Who’s with me?

3. I’d also make authentic vegan swedish clogs. I love Sweden. How can you not? And Swedish people wear real swedish clogs. None of these high heeled trendy fashion clogs that are everywhere this year. As a purist, I desire classic swedish clogs made with buttery FAKE leather. Some colorful painted versions would be great too!

# 4. And while we are on the subject of Sweden, I want some vegan shoes in a floral pattern, like these floral wedge shoes from one of my favorite swedish bloggers Elsa Billgren.

Now my dear readers, please share, if you would be so kind, your dream fantasy vegan shoes. They don’t have to exist. But in a perfect world where all shoes were vegan and animal cruelty (and human while we’re on the subject) did not exist, what shoes would you see in the store? Comment below!

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