Squealing on Crappy Brands – Yes or No? May 5, 2009

Like their nonvegan counterparts, vegan shoes vary in quality, and in most cases one gets what one pays for.

But, what to do when someone asks for a brand I refuse to carry due to substandard quality? Should I tell them point-blank how crappy they are (and run the risk of getting sued if the brand finds out), or should I drop gentle hints that they aren’t worth buying?

I tend to lean towards the latter, but unfortunately some people don’t understand subtlety. Which makes it even trickier – logically, anyone who doesn’t pick up on hints (especially the extremely obvious ones) is somewhat more likely to be tricked into wasting their money on something they shouldn’t buy.

To give just a few examples:

A few customers have begged me to carry “Brand T.” shoes because they’re one of the only companies that makes vegan brothel creepers. But, I can’t bring myself to do it. I’ve owned three pairs of their shoes and all of them were beyond crappy. One pair was way too stiff and really hurt. One pair started fraying within two weeks. The third pair – the absolute worst – had a SERIOUS glue problem. During the course of the day, glue would seep up through the insoles, and by the time I got home from work my feet would be a sticky mess. (On a more practical note, they require a relatively high order minimum for a smallish label, and only offer a few vegan styles. What exactly would I do with, say, six cases of creepers when only about 15 people want them?)

We used to carry “Brand D.” shoes, but had one problem after another with the company. I won’t get into the details, but I will say that quality took a MAJOR dive after production moved to a different factory. Quality problems, in addition to shortening the longevity of a shoe, can indicate use of sweatshop labor, which I find morally reprehensible. They insisted the factory wasn’t a sweatshop, but the quality showed no signs of improving.

We spent ONE YEAR trying to get “Brand N.” to return our calls before they bothered to respond. Then, when we got our first shipment, the shoes were cute and all that, but something was off. The insoles really didn’t have enough padding, ankle strap keeper loops were glued instead of sewn (generally, the more glue used in a bag or shoe, the lower the quality – proper shoes and bags are sewn), and the labels indicated they weren’t necessarily manufactured in the country where the company claimed to do all of their production. Hmm. Worst of all, they hurt like hell. I had one pair of their shoes, which started to really hurt after about three hours of wear. I finally had to give them away – even heavily cushioned insoles and heel liners didn’t make the excruciating pain go away. They were the second-most-painful shoes I’ve ever owned in my entire life.

Complete honesty, or subtle hints? It’s quite a conundrum.

Real Vegans Boycott Payless: Open Letter to _______ Magazine* April 21, 2009

Dear _______:

Way back on December 30, I contacted you to express my disappointment about your decision to not only include Payless in a list of vegan-friendly apparel retailers, but to place the company at the top of the list as well. You have yet to acknowledge my letter, let alone respond.

Payless is NOT an appropriate choice for anyone with ethical or environmental concerns (moreover, in the future it won’t be an option for anyone who shuns leather either). They commit design theft left and right. They are a longtime user of sweatshops. The crappy vinyl they use for shoe uppers is highly unlikely to biodegrade at all (quality faux leathers can be 30-100% biodegradable). Their goods require frequent replacement due to their low quality, which generates much more waste (and uses more energy) than buying good-quality faux-leather shoes, which can last for years with proper care.

Earlier in the very same issue, you ran an article about labor practices in the food industry [title deleted].  While I applaud you for drawing attention to the importance of fair-trade agriculture, I must protest the inherent hypocrisy in supporting Payless. You don’t approve of the cocoa industry exploiting African children, yet you won’t extend the same compassion to factory workers, the majority of them teenage girls, in Southeast Asia (many of whom are beaten or groped by supervisors, denied restroom breaks, housed in overcrowded firetrap dorms, fined for everything under the sun, fed amphetamines to stay awake for forced overtime shifts, and paid so little they are lucky if they can afford two meager meals per day).

Being vegan is about reducing suffering. Sweatshop labor is inherently not vegan. Your list should have been composed entirely of ethical companies. I myself have offered to cover the fashion beat for you in the past, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but I could have come up with a far better list of leather-free shoe companies. If a mere shopkeeper (with a fashion background and a few published articles under her belt) isn’t good enough to write for _______, fine, but at least assign fashion-related articles to writers who are actually knowledgeable about truly vegan fashion.

Incidentally, cheap shoes do not offer sufficient support or air circulation. Cheap shoes are the high-fructose corn syrup of the footwear trade – they seem like a good idea to uninformed consumers at first, but only later do they realize their unhealthy mistake.

If you are going to present yourselves as an ethical veg*n publication, you must be 100 percent consistent! Mistakes like this are precisely the sort of thing that causes omnivores to write off herbivores as animal lovers who hate people. While I will openly admit to cracking the occasional joke about people being no damn good, I would never knowingly support such a cruel and immoral industry. Furthermore, I certainly don’t want to be lumped in with people who call themselves veg*n but don’t give a damn whose rights they spit upon in the pursuit of a well-stocked closet.

I’ve spent the past three years trying to convince certain apathetic self-proclaimed veg*ns why they should care about sweatshop labor, and in one fell swoop you unraveled my work by telling my target market Payless was “okay” (which it quite clearly is not). I am not going to ask you for compensation or anything like that (I’m the Vegan Shoe Lady, you know). I just want you to tell your readers you made a mistake.

Sincerely,

The Vegan Shoe Lady

P.S. Dear Readers – here’s the original letter:

Dear Editor,

Words cannot describe how shocked I was to see Payless topping the list in your [title deleted] sidebar from the January/February 2009 issue. Payless may offer some wares that contain no leather, but they are not an appropriate choice for anyone with environmental, ethical, or animal-rights concerns.

Payless shoes are extremely cheap because they are made with extremely cheap materials and are assembled as cheaply as possible. The company is well-known for using sweatshop labor. It’s true that they pulled out of one abusive factory several years ago (following an investigation by Chinese labor officials), but it is highly unlikely that Payless will ever really pay its factory workers a living wage. Having a basic understanding of apparel manufacturing, I can tell you that it is, in fact, fiscally impossible to fairly compensate workers and still profitably produce a shoe that will retail for $20. Being vegan is supposed to be about reducing, and hopefully eliminating, suffering. Given that you ran an article addressing labor issues in the food industry [title deleted] earlier in this very issue, I find the mention of Payless incredibly inappropriate.

Because Payless’ shoes are haphazardly assembled from cheap materials, their level of quality is hardly ideal, and they require much more frequent replacement than a higher-quality vegan shoe. The cheap plastics they use aren’t going to biodegrade anytime soon, and when cheap shoes wear out, they take up landfill space. Frequently-replaced shoes take up a LOT more landfill space than a well-made pair that will last for years.

Incidentally, “cheap” shoes aren’t always so good for your wallet. (Not too long ago, in my blog, I compared and contrasted two people; one wearing only cheap shoes, one wearing only good ones. Because cheap shoes wear out so quickly, the person who wore only cheap shoes wound up paying more than twice as much over a 10-year period.) Also, cheap vinyl shoes lack proper structure and do not breathe. I personally would prefer that the veg*n community NOT be known for stress fractures and sweaty, malodorous feet.

Please, _______, help your readers to do the right thing. Why not encourage them to support ethical companies, preferably run by people who truly understand what “vegan” means?

Sincerely,

The Vegan Shoe Lady

P.P.S. I wish Laura Little had photographed me for the store’s early press coverage.

*Name (and article titles) omitted, but it’s not hard to figure out.

I Told You So March 19, 2009

A couple of years ago, I read in a footwear trade publication that a certain cheap shoe chain (the name starts with a P and rhymes with “hayless”) would be phasing out vinyl shoes in favor of (eeew! ick! not vegan!) leather uppers.

Of course, I mentioned this in an online forum I frequented at the time, due to the relatively high concentration of vegan shoe fiends.

The one member who acknowledged my posting replied “I refuse to believe that!” She’d apparently just been to her local branch of the chain and found lots of shiny PVC on every shelf.

The fashion world does NOT work as quickly as everyone thinks it does. One well-known vegan restaurant has, on at least one occasion, decided what to create for dessert on the spur of the moment, that morning. Designing and manufacturing shoes, on the other hand, is a process that takes MONTHS, and when big companies are planning a significant change, they often plan them over an even longer period of time, if possible. Of course it wasn’t going to be an overnight change!

Earlier today, a new customer told me she’d recently stopped shopping at that chain – not because she finally realized she deserved better (everyone deserves better), but because every pair of shoes she saw there that she liked had leather uppers. Vinyl shoes are disappearing from the chain’s shelves.

Vindication is mine!

P.S. Read the archives of this blog to find out why cheap shoes actually cost you more than twice as much as good shoes in the long run. (That is NOT an exaggeration. I did the cost comparison myself.) Even in a bad economy, it’s better to invest in one good pair than four super-cheap, sloppily made pairs.

Veg*ns: Don’t Ask Fashion Girl February 16, 2009

I spent my Saturday afternoon at the FIDM gallery in downtown LA, enjoying the 17th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibit. Costumes from “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “The Other Boleyn Girl,” and several other well-dressed films are featured – it’s well worth the trip if you can make it before the exhibit closes on March 29. (Warning: some of the film costumes incorporate real fur. Sadly, not all costume designers have caught on that real fur is cruel, disgusting, and not at all necessary for the silver screen when there are so many realistic fakes out there.)

(Side note: the exhibit also featured a mock snack-bar display complete with an old snack-bar intermission film…including creepily suicidal hot dogs. The most disturbing clip of all featured a feminine-looking hot dog styling a mustard-and-relish “hairdo” in front of a vanity, then slipping on a bun like it was an expensive evening coat. Dolling oneself up to be eaten… Carol Adams would certainly have something to say about that! I’d submit that clip to Suicide Food, but it isn’t available for viewing online.)

FIDM, or Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, is a private college that prepares students for careers in fashion and various related fields. They’re also something of a community fashion resource, putting together and hosting fashion-related exhibits (including a television costume exhibit every summer), maintaining one of the world’s largest fashion libraries, serving as the permanent home of the Annette Green Perfume Museum (worth a visit when it’s open – call ahead before making the trip), and even providing its own online advice column, Ask Fashion Girl.

For the most part, Fashion Girl’s answers to questions are good. However, she gave an extremely poor and completely unresearched answer to one reader – a vegetarian named Robin wanting to know where to buy leather-free apparel without having to rely on (eew! ick! evil!) Payless.

Fashion Girl’s answer:

Payless and other inexpensive shoe and clothes stores are where you are going to find artificial, or vegetarian, leather. As they go up in price, stores pride themselves on carrying the real thing (in this case, genuine leather), so the lower-priced stores are where it makes sense to be sleuthing fake fashion finds.

The good news is that some of the more inexpensive stores are really trendy and are able to”knock-off,”or reproduce, the latest styles in imitation materials really quickly and cheaply.

Payless is just about the best place to find imitation leather shoes, since their styles change pretty often and they have a wide selection. I also recommend stores such as Walmart and K-Mart for faux leather and suede, and possibly JC Penney.

Look for a discount store near you that specializes in”disposable fashion”– trendy styles that are super-cheap and meant to be worn for a short time, then tossed aside. This is where you are more likely to find faux suede and leather.

In other words, FG’s advice boils down to “I can’t be bothered to do any real research, so just keep buying crap.”

When the article was posted, vegan-friendly companies like Matt & Nat, Vegetarian Shoes, Queen Bee, and Truth Belts had already been in business for years. Even Stella McCartney’s brand-new label was gaining notice at the time. A quick online search would have unearthed all of them, and probably more. There is no excuse for such a crappy response.

Robin specified that she was looking for stores other than Payless (it doesn’t take a genius to realize their wares are not at all a good investment). Yet, FG lazily tells her Payless is where to go. She also tells her to buy cheap knockoffs, which I’ve ranted and railed about in previous posts (long story short: cheap knockoffs are EVIL).  Worst of all, she lists other stores that specialize in low-quality materials, highly questionable workmanship, and horrid conditions for employees…and “disposable fashion”, which generates much more waste than investment fashion. Real smart of FG, given that most vegetarians also have a soft spot for the environment.

FG had a great opportunity to give herbivores a much-needed voice in the world of style. Instead, she silenced the sartorial voices of Robin and any other plant-eaters reading the column. She screwed up, and I can only hope her answer will be removed from the archives so no one ever sees it again…without me having to call in a favor from a FIDM professor I know. (Which I’m not above doing. I want the entire vegetarian community to know they don’t ever have to buy awful shoes again, even if I don’t personally profit from that knowledge.)

Here is how my response to Robin would have read:

Dear Robin,

Fortunately, it has gotten easier to purchase leather-free goods in recent years, and you no longer have to set foot in cheap chain stores to do it.

There are several all-vegetarian apparel companies, and some companies that do use leather or suede have begun to produce vegetarian styles.

For sneakers, Macbeth makes several vegan styles every season, and they are clearly labeled as such. Ethletics makes fair-trade, sustainable, organic sneakers similar to Converse (real Converse sneakers have bone glue and are made by Nike, don’t buy ‘em). Check with your nearest New Balance or Saucony store if you want a more athletic shoe.

I strongly recommend owning at least one pair of Vegetarian Shoes – they make sturdy boots, low heels, basic flats, sneakers, belts (mostly in basic brown or black), some dressier shoes, animal-friendly shoe polish, and even offer a basic nylon ripper wallet. (These are probably not going to be the fancy shoes you wear out clubbing – they’re workhorse shoes. They’re made of better-quality materials than cheap chain-store shoes – most styles breathe well and are waterproof. VS’ wares are of good quality, sweat-free, and can last for years with proper care.)

For cuter, fancier, feminine shoes on a budget, I recommend Madden Girl over other budget brands. Madden Girl is part of the Steve Madden empire, and is of somewhat better quality than most inexpensive shoes. MG has flats and heels in the $30-45 range, which is a bit more than some cheaper lines, but they are made with somewhat-better materials. (Truthfully, the materials don’t breathe as well as the quality brands, but you get what you pay for.)

For women’s shoes on a mid-range budget, NeuAura rules. I live in my NeuAuras. The designer worked for a high-end label before starting the company, so she understands the importance of good fit, good structure, and good materials. Bonus: NeuAura shoes are made in a fair-trade green factory.

If you like your belts to be a little more interesting, there’s always Truth Belts. Materials include a variety of fabrics as well as realistic faux leather in black or brown, patent or matte. Vegan Erotica also makes belts. Both companies make their goods by hand, not in sweatshops.

Queen Bee Creations and Matt & Nat both make bags and wallets – QB in colorful PVC-free vinyl and Matt & Nat in a variety of fake leathers and other fabrics (they are focusing more on sustainable and recycled materials these days). English Retreads and Used Rubber USA make accessories out of recycled rubber from tires (the rubber smell dissipates somewhat with time, though some people really dislike it). M&N has raised prices significantly to cover the cost of going greener, so if you truly cannot afford their goods,  eBay often has listings for older, discontinued pieces (it’s where I bought my beloved M&N Slick travel bag in the highly-coveted patent black), but don’t count on finding anything from the current season.

Beyond Skin hand-makes women’s shoes in two lines – one basic, one higher-end, all gorgeous. MINK makes handmade vegan women’s shoes at the higher end, and if the sky’s the limit (alas, for me it is not), Stella McCartney’s got you covered (she also does some belts). Veg Italian Style makes very classic men’s and women’s styles, if exchange rates and shipping from Italy aren’t a deterrent. There is one higher-end men’s vegetarian shoe company, Noharm, though as the market for top-of-the-line men’s veg shoes is still a small one, I haven’t yet seen a pair in action.

As for faux suede, do a search for Ultrasuede. Ultrasuede is a very realistic faux suede – many people never realize it’s not cow suede – and is often used to inexpensively manufacture garments that resemble suede. As it’s so close to springtime, the pickings might be slim, so search again in late August to mid-September and something is bound to turn up. (Or, you can DIY: find an Ultrasuede dealer, buy a few yards, and make the exact jacket you want. It’s what I did when I couldn’t find the mid-calf-length faux leopard coat I wanted.) There are other brands of faux suede out there (Louis Vuitton even uses one to line their trunks!), but Ultrasuede will be the easiest to find.

I hope you find this information useful, and good luck building the wardrobe you want!

- Vegan Shoe Lady

Blind Item: Shoe Shame December 31, 2008

What animal-friendly lifestyle magazine, which sells a fair amount of ad space to veg*n retailers (including yours truly), saw fit to put Payless at the top of their list of veg*n-friendly shoe companies in a sidebar to a larger article?

Words cannot describe how disappointed I am. These people know better. What’s worse, they have people who know a lot about veg*n apparel (myself included) at their disposal. The sidebar should have featured *ethical* companies.

Oh, and do I really have to remind anyone why cheap shoes are still a bad idea?

Vegans from Another Planet! Part 3 December 2, 2008

Stop saying the “P” word.

I’m not kidding. Stop it right now! Ban it from your vocabulary, at least in reference to apparel, unless it is preceded by the word “recycled.” It’s derogatory and often misleading.

So many clueless, arrogant nonvegans snottily deride vegan apparel as “plastic.” Which makes me want to give them the lecture of their lives, since it’s not only incredibly rude to say such a thing but often completely inaccurate.

It’s true that SOME vegan shoes, bags, etc. contain plastics. NOT ALL OF THEM DO. The better-quality faux leathers, aka the ones that are worth the investment, are generally carbon-based. Some are even biodegradable. When someone incorrectly refers to your shoes as “plastic”, don’t you dare let it go. Correct them immediately and don’t let them do it again, or they’ll never stop saying it. (If it’s a co-worker who is prone to other bad behavior, keep a log and complain to HR.)

I’m sometimes asked what the exact makeup of a given material is. Good luck getting ANYONE to disclose that! The fashion tribe, including textiles manufacturers, guards secrets and such with extreme jealousy. You are only slightly more likely to get a textile company to freely disclose the exact formula for a given man-made material than you are to obtain the recipe for Coca Cola. I can’t even get precise answers to certain questions and I’m in the trade! But, all I really need to know is how a material performs and whether it lasts long enough to be a good investment.

I am, of course, all in favor of making apparel out of recycled plastics. I still have that soda-bottle fleece shirt from 1995, though I don’t often need it.

(Blind item: what clueless, arrogant non-vegan writer snarkily derided vegan apparel because his equally clueless wife once bought a cheapo vinyl purse that predictably fell apart? You can’t buy bottom-of-the-barrel crap and then snottily declare all vegan bags are just as bad. And can someone at the syndicate please tell me why he hasn’t yet been fired for deliberately spreading false information on top of being a dumbass?)

A Quick Lesson About Value October 31, 2008

Let’s say sisters Jackie and Judy are both newly vegan, and both need new shoes.*

Jackie assumes all non-leather shoes are all alike, and buys the cheapest pair of vinyl shoes she can find at a discount store.

Judy does a little research into which vegan-friendly companies make the best shoes. Stella McCartney’s out of her budget, so she brown-bags her lunches for a while and puts the savings toward a pair of basic black flats from Vegetarian Shoes.

Jackie’s shoes don’t breathe. Her feet sweat and stink.

Judy’s shoes breathe as well as her old leather shoes did, and are even waterproof.

Jackie’s shoes have virtually no support, and after months of wearing the same pair of shoes, her feet hurt. Her doctor warns her that constantly wearing shoes with no support can increase her risk for stress fractures.

Judy’s shoes offer enough support for daily wear, but she might add cushioned inserts from the drugstore if she’s going to be on her feet all day. Her feet are fine.

Jackie finds herself replacing those cheap shoes every 4 to 6 months, since she wears them every day, doesn’t alternate them with anything else, and doesn’t bother to clean or polish them.

Judy buys a second pair of Vegetarian Shoes, and alternates them with her black pair. She airs out her shoes daily, and gives them a good clean-and-polish every few weeks. Ten years later, she gets both pairs re-soled.

Who spent less money, Jackie or Judy?

Jackie averages 2.5 pairs of shoes per year, at $25 each (average cost of a pair of vinyl shoes at the nearest cheap-shoe store), for 10 years.  Total cost for shoes: $625. That doesn’t include whatever she spent on doctor bills for her aching feet.

Judy spends a combined $200 on both pairs of shoes (based on the current average cost of a basic Vegetarian Shoes women’s style). She goes through one tin of polish every two years (based on my personal level of near-obsessive shoe polish use) at $4 a tin. Having both pairs of shoes re-soled costs her $90 (based on the current average cost of shoe re-soling in Orange County and several major metropolitan areas in the USA).  Total amount spent on shoes and maintenance: $310.

Even though Judy had to pay a little more up front, she spent a lot less in the long run. She also looked more polished and didn’t share Jackie’s foot problems. Jackie’s shoes are also taking up more landfill space than Judy’s shoes ever will.

The moral of this story? Don’t let sticker shock scare you out of a good pair of shoes that will last for years with proper care. If you truly cannot afford a good pair of shoes when you need to replace an old pair, at least try to save a little money and buy them when you can. It’s worth the investment.

*Based on two people I personally know. “Jackie” finally stopped torturing herself with crappy shoes.