- Joined
- Feb 2, 2016
- Reaction score
- 10
I've been eating vegan for about four to five years now, and over the past year have began buying only vegan clothing: cotton or synthetics vs. wool; vegan shoes, belts and gloves. My question is about what to do with my older, existing items of leather and wool, especially since I tend to keep my clothes and shoes for a long time and still have a lot of leather.
I feel uncomfortable sometimes wearing leather or being seen by others wearing leather, lest doing so seems to condone or encourage it. And yet, another part of me feels strongly that, having already been killed and processed into clothing, the even worse, and more life-devaluing approach would be to "throw away" the usable skin or wool of an animal. Twice now, wearing very worn leather has given me the opportunity to tell someone that I'd rather wear unfashionable, worn but usable leather than unnecessarily kill another animal.
It's been suggested to me that I donate or give away my non-vegan clothes, as that would alleviate my own negative feelings and make me more of an "advertisement" and advocate of non-animal clothing, but that seems to me to be almost as bad as just using them myself til they wear out. The stuff will still be out there, being worn and seen and possibly facilitate others continuing to wear them. Plus, every time I put something leather on I think about what it means and it reinforces my resolve. Literally I guess, it becomes like a "hairshirt"
I'm curious as to what others have done.
I feel uncomfortable sometimes wearing leather or being seen by others wearing leather, lest doing so seems to condone or encourage it. And yet, another part of me feels strongly that, having already been killed and processed into clothing, the even worse, and more life-devaluing approach would be to "throw away" the usable skin or wool of an animal. Twice now, wearing very worn leather has given me the opportunity to tell someone that I'd rather wear unfashionable, worn but usable leather than unnecessarily kill another animal.
It's been suggested to me that I donate or give away my non-vegan clothes, as that would alleviate my own negative feelings and make me more of an "advertisement" and advocate of non-animal clothing, but that seems to me to be almost as bad as just using them myself til they wear out. The stuff will still be out there, being worn and seen and possibly facilitate others continuing to wear them. Plus, every time I put something leather on I think about what it means and it reinforces my resolve. Literally I guess, it becomes like a "hairshirt"
I'm curious as to what others have done.