Sustainable Shopping and Veganism

I am trying to develop a business idea for something related to sustainable shopping and or veganism (or non-cruelty based diet).

I am looking for people who have gone down this road and want to share their insights or possibly want to work together. I actually know very little about the above but have been researching it for a few months. It seems a lot of information exists about veganism at least online but not much interest in mainstream society.

I have always lived around hippy cultures in Santa Cruz, so I know they are not good at organization and business. However, I am different. I have a background in law, currently working on a Phd in Public Policy and have a friend in Silicon valley who is a professional app developer and wants to help.