vegetarian shoes (merged)

I went through my shoes today and found out that out of my 7 pairs of shoes (not a typical girl I guess, my husband has more shoes than I do) only one pair of them were made out of leather, and I didn't even buy that pair nor do I really wear them. What I am wondering is this. I have seen shoes labeled "vegetarian" is this when they're made from "all man made products" (that is what it says on all my other shoes). Any information you might have on the subject would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Thanks! I figured those to be alright, so the ones made from man made materials would be concidered vegan then too? Nice.

 

I have many friends who could probably go a few months without wearing the same pair of shoes more than once. So maybe we're typical women and they're just obsessed with their shoes!

 

mmmm, shoes with REAL soul! Heeheehee.

Seriously, I've got a cute pair of canvas shoes. You can get them anywhere - I think I got mine at Target & they were less than $10. But with as non-environmentally friendly as cotton can be/is... how "green" are my vegan shoes? Sure, no animals died to make them... but how many animals are gonna die from the chemical runoff caused to make the cotton they were woven from?

My grandmom had over 150 pairs of shoes when she died. I think it was a sickness. My mom has something like 15 pairs. My fashion-conscious lil sis has more like 40. (her husband is getting ready to commit her ) Me? (runs off to count) I've got 2 pair of sandals, 2 pair of actual shoes, and 1 pair of winter-weight boots. So 5 pair?!?

Socks now, that's a different story. Mama's not gonna admit to how many cut pairs of socks she's got with froggies, ladybugs or tie-dyed rainbows on them!
love,
mom

 

Vegetarian shoes?

Just get a load of sticky rice and mould them around your feet.

If you ever get hungry, you can eat your shoes.

 

I didn't know that shoes could choose their diet.

 

Why do you want to wear shoes? Oh yeah, stores, work ... damn the man!

 

So is it better to find shoes that aren't leather or any type of animal skin or better to use man made shoes that could polute the earth by being processed? Is it just a catch 22 then? I saw a brand of shoes called earth spirit... all of them were made entirely from leather. It can be so confusing, I'd think a brand called earth spirit would be more... friendly? Yeah, better not to wear shoes I guess, but then I have to pay the bills somehow... need to go to work to do that, and they require them... it's literally written in our dress code. (dress code eew!)

That is exactly what I thought a while back when I saw a whole section on an online shoe store labled "vegetarian shoes". Ha!

 

From our perspective it would be more friendly to not use leather, but from a meat eater's perspective it would be friendly to make use of the entire animal and not be wasteful.

 

Hey all, ive recently been to America and I gave into temptation and bought a pair of nike airs - they're seriously cheap in america compared to england, the problem is, leather trainers are the only type of shoes i've found that can actually withstand my clumsiness/general being a lad-ness, a year back when i bought non leather shoes within two weeks the top of the shoe was nearly ripped off and the bottom of the shoe was hanging off..

I've been wearing my nikes for about a week now but i despise wearing them because of the leather, so next time i go to buy some shoes i'm hoping to get some withstandable non leather ones:

Does anyone have any websites or such that they could link me to which would have non-leather trainers which could withstand such a beating?

Thanks

 

Back when I was in track, I had a great pair of synthetic leather trainers... I believe they were Reebok? They lasted a good 3 years under constant training & young-teen abuse.
love,
mom

 

I've had good experiences with vegan trainers from New Balance. Most, but not all their shoes are vegan.

http://www.newbalance.com/

http://www.shoebuy.com/new-balance-mens-vegan-shoes.htm

 

Leather being "better" than a synthetic is something I understand. Synthetics cause A LOT of pollution while being created, and like Drummunmama said they don't biodegrade. So once they're made, they're gonna stick around for the rest of eternity as a pair of worn-out shoes. Sure, you can recycle them but recycling synthetics causes even MORE pollution, and only a very small portion of synthetics can be recycled so it's tough to find a place that'll take 'em. A cow on the other hand doesn't cause a lot of pollution while growing, and every part of the cow can decompose AND will re-nourish the earth.

This is one of my biggest hang-ups with the vegan lifestyle. Sure you're eating healthier & you're not killing any animals - but what are your choices doing to the planet long-term? Is it better to wear shoes that created more pollution or that were created via the death of an animal? I don't know the right answer... I'm still working on what *I* feel is right. (sigh) I think I'll be at this one for a loooong time.
love,
mom

 

thanks all for the help since i've went veggie last year i've been trying to get rid of everything that's leather, only things left i have now is the trainers which hopefully i'll replace with shoes from the places above when i've worn them out and a leather chair which was bought for me and i HATE

 

Hmm never had thought about that...

wearing leather shoes, it's an animal's life.. but using synthetic ones could hurt many animals/enviroment.. hm