Do you wear old animal products?

[Kiwi]

Hi everybody. I'm interested in becoming vegan someday (maybe soon). I've been vegetarian for about seven months. But I have a question: I quit buying leather products, but I still own my old stuff (a few pairs of boots and a leather jacket). As much as I hate the idea, I don't see myself getting rid of these, as they're part of my culture (or subculture, whatever). Do any vegans still wear leather products they purchased form their pre-vegan days?

[Sage]

Not vegan yet either, but yeah still wear leather stuff. Seems just a waste to get new ones when the existing products are perfectly adequate.
Of course in time I shall replace the with leather free options.

Seems a lot of veggies do that. Others give their leather things away (so others won't purchase new products for themselves).

[animal_freak]

I am not yet a vegan but I know I will never buy leather again...when my stuff needs replacing - I will buy alternatives. I hate wearing leather I feel so guilty but I still live my parents and they buy my stuff (I am nearly 16) so they always bought what they thought I would like, however now that I get my own stuff I will never choose leather or silk or any other animal derived product.

[LT]

I'll never buy leather again. I donated the bulk of my leather shoes, purses, and old leather jacket to charity. I do have a few leather shoes I bought before I was vegetarian that I've kept. I'll just wear those until they wear out, and replace them with non-leather ones.

[Pilgrim]

i also kept wearing my current leather shoes after turning vegan but replaced them with non leather when i purchased my next pair. it looks like that is the normal thing to do
i dont know of any vegan/animal rights people who wear leather jackets. that could be making more of a statement.

[valenceflame]

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[Treehugger]

I have one belt and a few pair of shoes that are made from partially from cowhide and I continue to wear those even tho I'm vegan now. In time I will of course replace them with non-leather stuff. It's just a waiste throwing stuff away, it doesn't help the animals in any way. It's just bad for the environment.

[Tourterelle]

When I went totally vegan one and one-half years ago, I went through my wardrobe and sorted out the leather stuff. There were a number of leather things I gave to charity. Some other stuff I decided to keep, particularly things that I'd had for quite awhile and would be wearing out soon, anyway. I just tried to do what felt right.

Of course, I don't buy leather stuff anymore.

I do use a few leather things from what I already had before going vegan: shoes, a couple of leather purses that once belonged to my mother before she passed away, some leather gloves used for gardening and another pair for working out with weights. But most of the stuff I did get rid of last year.

However, I am careful in public. If I ever go anywhere where I am presenting myself as an animal rights person -- I must be very careful and make sure I leave all the leather stuff at home. It is preferable to try and use the old leather stuff in more private situations, while waiting for it to wear out.

As for the leather ''culture'' jacket -- it could be transformed to make a statement. Some vegan activists have old fur coats and they paint red stripes on them, or write some kind of message.

You could decorate the leather jacket: add vegan badges, paint splashes and a message like, ''this is what I used to wear before I found out how cows/pigs/animals suffer.'' Especially if the jacket looks old and beat up.

And when the jacket does finally wear out, go to Peta's website and have a look at their catalogue. You can see things made from ''pleather'' with a badge that says: ''fake for the animals' sake''.

In general, I think that if the leather article is relatively new, then better to give it to charity. If we wear old leather, then we can tell people they are carryovers from our pre-veggie days. But if we are walking around wearing shiny new leather products, then people will get suspicious more easily about our ''sincerity''.

[animalrightsmalta]

Leather is part of the rock/punk culture...but that does not mean leather cannot be replaced. Nowadays you can find non-leather biker jackets and stuff (maybe they cost a little more...but no animals are killed). I even have a 14-eyelet DrMartens boots which is non-leather (from Vegetarian Shoes).

Regarding the question of whether to use the leather items you bought, its a matter of personal choice. I wouldn't, for 3 reasons.

1. If we want to lead by example, wearing leather would not make it clear to people that alternatives are possible.

2. Since leather to me means unnecessary killing of animals, and since leather is dead animals' skin, and since I wouldn't wear items made from human skin, I choose not to wear leather anymore, even if I had bought the items a long time ago or they were given to me (I did not pay for them).

3. By giving away my good condition leather items (Jackets, boots, etc), I made sure that the person I gave them to, did not buy new ones.

Of course, this is a matter of opinion, and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with wearing your old leather items (especially if it is the case that you don't afford buying new clothes which may be costly.

[edamame659]

Okay your're all probably going to think I'm crazy but oh well.
I had leather items, but I burried them. I don't want to wear them anymore, because even if I didn't buy them recently, I know that I judge others when I see them holding a leather bag, or wearing any type of animal skin.

I burried them because I believe that all living beings should be returned to the earth when they die. I know it is only the skin of the animal, but I still feel that its the right thing to do. If the animal had died with its skin intact, it would return to the earth. It probably sounds really odd, but maybe a few of you understand.

[animalrightsmalta]

edamame659, if that's what makes you feel ok...that's what you should have done. Burial is a cultural thing. Some bury their dead, some incinerate their dead, some do not care about the dead once they are dead and simply throw them away. What one does with animal bodies depends on one's culture.

[sparky71]

edamame659,

Thats a new one on me, but what does that matter? Just because an ideas different, doesn't make it crazy. There are a 100,000,001 odd things going on in the world, thats not one of thing.

I think what you did was a nice idea.

I know what yo mean about judging people when they're wearing animals. I guess its a bit odd, as I've only been Vegan for 18 months, so who am I to judge? My original intension when I became Vegan was to replace my leather footwear when they were worn out, but in truth I gradually stopped wearing them because I felt a bit hypocritical. At first I said to my friends, throwing out a perfectly good pair of shoes isn't going to help the animal now. But it didn't feel right, so I gave them to charity shop instead and bought myself some vegan shoes.

The great thing is when people at work say "You don't like expoliting animals and yet you're wearing leather on your feet". My smug smile appears on my face, I take off my shoe and say "No dead animal on my feet". "Whats it made of then?", "Never heard of it", "Must be like wearing plastic on your feet", "Your feet must sweat a lot". Then they walk off mumbling under their breath how stupid it is. Stupid is as stupid does

I'm sure we've all heard it before.

[Lissa]

I took all my leather clothing/shoes to Goodwill all in the same day. I couldn't even look at it anymore.

[diablo claus]

I tried holding on to my shoes, but like every thing else in the house if it contained animal products it went to goodwill. I kept my kitchen clogs and my 3 hole Doc Martin Gibson's, the clogs wore out and got replaced by rubber ones and the docs are dusty as hell in the back of the closet. the wife also kept two pairs. MY pitbull even went vegan.... She now wears a nylon collar and eats our food which I make it all, almost no processed food