When Trends Cause Hypocrisy July 9, 2009

Whenever a non-vegan shoe company starts making vegan shoes, I can’t help cheering.

At the same time, part of me twitches nervously.

When non-vegan shoe companies decide to introduce vegan styles, things don’t always go smoothly. There are some common hiccups:

• Using the wrong kind of glue. I can think of two different manufacturers who initially used thin water-based glues – not surprisingly, a lot of shoes fell apart until the glue was changed. (Among vegan adhesives, rubber-based or synthetic glues are far more durable.) It is largely for this reason that, when a potential new supplier begins making vegan shoes, I now prefer to wait for at least a season to make sure they’ve had a chance to correct any glue problems that arise before considering an order.
• Using the wrong materials. I feel physically sick whenever I see a vegan shoe made with cheap, crappy materials and priced much higher than it is actually worth. (I can think of one grossly overpriced, all-vegan label that did this for at least one season, incidentally…)
• Not labeling vegan shoes explicitly. One company deliberately mislabeled fake-leather shoes as real leather – and didn’t understand why I sent them back. (They refused my request for correct labels…and don’t seem to fully understand why I have declined to work with them ever since.)
• And my biggest pet peeve: not understanding what the word “vegan” means!

Not too long ago, a very trendy ‘ethical’ shoe company came onto the market and was widely embraced for their charity work.

I will not name this company, since I have to admire all the good they’ve done; and in spite of everything, I’m still trying to find a way to work with them. But, the vegan world needs to know about this.

Because the company is socially conscious, more than a few well-meaning vegetarians and vegans naïvely assumed their canvas-upper shoes were animal-free, and snatched them up without bothering to read the labels carefully.

In actuality, it took a few years for the company to begin producing vegan shoes. The majority of their styles, regardless of the upper material, have animal skins in the soles. You read that right, ladies and gentlemen – those trendy shoes you bought two years ago and thought were vegan probably aren’t.

Recently, I have been attempting to place an order with the company. When I initially spoke with the sales rep, I explained that I run a vegan store and would therefore only be interested in vegan styles. At the time, I had no way of knowing this could prove problematic.

One of the women’s vegan styles I ordered was already sold out. No big deal, I told the rep – just tell me which vegan women’s styles are still available and I’ll order one of those. She told me they were ALL sold out, save for the other colorway I’d ordered.

And the kicker? She told me that if I didn’t order a total of four different styles they would refuse to process the order, even though the other vegan styles were all sold out, thus rendering such a thing logistically impossible for a strictly vegan store.

I told her I’d just wait another three months for the fall collection – no big deal. She then tried to convince me to order a nonvegan style to complete the order.

But wait…it gets worse. MUCH worse.

She went on to admit that several “vegan” stores had been ordering shoes they knew were not vegan because it was the only way they could get the brand at all.

She explained that the company had more orders for vegan styles than it could possibly fill, which is NOT an excuse for a business which misrepresents itself as vegan to buy and sell goods they know are not.

My business partner and I asked her why the company didn’t just make more vegan shoes than nonvegan ones (as one supplier we work with has done). Hell, why not make the entire line vegan, since no one objected to the fabric uppers? She stammered a pathetic excuse about the company being “really ethical”.

While they are certainly on stronger ethical footing than a large number of manufacturers, the fact of the matter is, their nonvegan styles still incorporate animal skins, and are therefore considered unethical by approximately 80 percent of my clientele (the other 20 percent are omnivores who just think we have really cute stuff).

I would NEVER put nonvegan wares on my shelves, no matter what the company’s claims are or how much money I could make from such a venture in this lousy economy. Yet, because the vegan styles are so hard to purchase, some desperate retailers are willing to overlook their so-called ethics and deceitfully sell nonvegan stock.

If you plan to purchase a vegan style produced by this manufacturer, my recommendation is this: contact the manufacturer directly and ask if the style you like is actually vegan. If they tell you it is not, don’t let a desperate retailer trick you into buying shoes that are not vegan.

Allowing nonvegan goods to pass as such dilutes the meaning of the word, and subtly tells manufacturers that yes, they can in fact sell animal skins to people who claim to shun them. Not only is this an appalling and slimy practice (which, I might add, blatantly disrespects religious sects that frown upon wearing animals), it allows the leather industry – which is tied tightly to the beef and dairy industries – to profit from the very same people who don’t want to give them their hard-earned money in the first place.

I can’t force other retailers to walk the walk, but my readers can rest assured that I will not give up my morals just to cash in on a trend.

I’m still going to try to work with the company for now, but I will only place an order if they can send me an all-vegan order.

In the meantime, shop carefully, people.

Blind Item: The Bee’s Knees? May 3, 2009

What restaurant, which is part of a mini-chain and has long maintained an all-vegan menu, advertised a salad with honey dressing on their specials board the other night?

Hint: they were recently bought out by a corporation that doesn’t exactly understand what “vegan” means. Case in point: a member of their new board of directors has a background involving a much-reviled (and rightly so) corporate fast-food chain.

Was it actual honey dressing, or did they use agave nectar? I’m afraid to ask.

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.

Hooray for W…Mostly April 3, 2009

I’ve long preferred W Magazine over rival Vogue, and not just for “Countess Esterhazy’s” tongue-in-cheek ‘Last Laugh’ column. (Give it up, John Fairchild, everyone knows it’s you.)

Pick up just about any issue of American Vogue from the past two decades and you’ll see animal-skin overload – editor Anna Wintour has some kind of sick obsession with fur, leather, and various exotic skins. (Good thing I have a strong stomach, since I read every fashion magazine that Huntington Central Library receives.) Sure, you’ll see fur, leather, etc. in the pages of W, but thankfully not to the same extent as Vogue.

This month, W has an exclusive online-only slideshow of what they deem “The Best Vegan-Friendly Accessories.” Yay! Sure, I’d love it if they actually ran it in the print version, but hey – baby steps. There was a time when no one was making nice veg-friendly apparel, and now there are a slew of manufacturers doing just that.

It’s not a terribly long list – eleven accessories, one set of all-synthetic makeup brushes, and the upcoming Babycakes cookbook – but it’s a very nice start. W featured items from some of the greats – Matt & Nat, NeuAura, MINK, Olsen Haus, and (of course) the great Stella McCartney – who are long overdue for greater recognition.

My only gripe? The inclusion of accessories from Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs. Both designers are longtime fur users. Surely I’m not alone in believing it’s incredibly hypocritical for ethical vegetarians and vegans to support designers who are heartless enough to use real fur?

Granted, the writer of the piece probably isn’t even vegetarian and probably didn’t put quite as much thought into it as an ethical veg*n would have, but come ON.

Believe it or not, a very close friend of mine (who is also vegan) lives for Dior and Marc Jacobs – and sees nothing wrong with buying whatever accidentally-vegan goods they produce.

“You do know they still use real fur in some of their clothes, right?” I once asked, my left eyebrow slightly raised.

“But a lot of their clothes are totally animal-free!” she chirped in the giddy, bubbly way that only she can pull off.

On this topic, we have to agree to disagree. She may be okay with it, but how many of us are? I’d wager it’s not the majority.

In any case, my thanks to W for giving some great stylish veg-friendly brands some well-deserved attention.

Elizabeth Olsen Rocks! March 17, 2009

I periodically stop by Huntington Central Library, take the elevator up to the periodicals floor, and spend an hour or two there reading all the fashion magazines to stay on top of current trends. This past Saturday, I was disgusted to see an article in Lucky Magazine falsely claim that “eco friendly” leather exists. It doesn’t. Anyone with a basic understanding of textile science would know that…but most people who consider themselves veg*n or eco-conscious don’t study textile production (these days, most people, veg or not, don’t), and some are duped into buying “vegetable dyed” or “vegetable tanned” leather, mistakenly believing it to be a greener choice than all synthetics.

I’ve been on the Girlie Girl Army mailing list for a while (and highly recommend it). I was glad to see the latest newsletter link back to a GGA blog entry from five days ago, guest-written by Elizabeth Olsen, who designs the Olsen Haus vegan shoe line.

For years, I have been trying to use my knowledge and background for the better, especially as it relates to animal-friendly shopping. I answer a dozen questions a day about vegan footwear, including plenty about its environmental effects. I even penned an article for (now-defunct) Herbivore Magazine including the subject, though as the online format proved unpopular with many readers, very few people actually got around to reading it. (I’d link to the article, but the website seems to have vanished. Perhaps when ex-editor Josh Hooten is back in town I’ll seek permission to post it here, as it’s still saved on my hard drive. He’s on a 600-mile bike ride to raise money for Farm Sanctuary and I hate to bother people when they’re on the road.)

In addition to my schooling and personal experience, I put in over 100 hours of my own research for the article. Yet, it’s appalling how many people don’t want to accept the facts (or don’t want to believe me for some reason…for the record, I did NOT profit from that article in any way; it was written strictly as a public service). Elizabeth has been vegan for much, much longer than I have, and has done more research than I have, so hopefully the eco/veggie community will listen to her.

In the comments, one ill-informed reader actually had the nerve to inquire (rather rudely, I thought) whether Elizabeth had actually researched labor issues and the chemicals/byproducts involved in synthetic vs. leather manufacturing. Obviously, she did. One cannot possibly hope to have a serious discussion about the environmental effects of leather or synthetics without researching any chemicals or byproducts involved, and no true vegan would knowingly support child labor. A socially conscious vegan designer would, of course, do her own research concerning the precise origins of the materials available to her (assuming she knew what she was doing, and it’s clear Ms. Olsen does). Of course, Elizabeth is smart enough not to take such a ridiculous inquiry lying down, and replies:

Because this is a blog, I don’t have the space to go into depth with your issues , but… there is skirting around the real issue of the tremendous harm leather causes, obviously to the animals, but also the environment,….Yes, I have done extensive research over the last 20 years, have you?

Thank you, Elizabeth Olsen (and GGA founder Chloé Jo Berman) for bringing the truth to light. Keep it up – stylish people who love animals, the planet, or both need you.

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?

Setting the Record Straight About Recycled Fabrics September 25, 2008

There is a seemingly unending debate in the veg*n community about whether it is acceptable for vegans to use recycled animal fibers – salvaged leather, recycled wool, recycled silk, etc.

Morally, it’s a gray area.

Recycling? Good – usually. More on that in a minute.

Wearing recycled non-vegan materials? Ethical grayish area. Not technically vegan, but it doesn’t increase the demand for new animal products either. I wouldn’t be caught dead doing it,  but I certainly understand why a few people choose to do so.

Some materials lend themselves relatively well to recycling – synthetics especially. Fleece and other fabrics have been made from recycled plastics for years, and they last a LONG time. This makes them even greener, since they require replacing less often. I still have a soda-bottle fleece shirt that I bought in 1995 and it’s still in perfect condition. I doubt I will need to buy another in my lifetime.

Natural fibers, however, are NOT recycled that easily.

Natural fibers, be they wool or cotton, don’t melt down like polyester. They have to be broken back down into fiber to be re-spun into threads. This generally requires the use of a chemical bath. Not only are the chemicals not such good news, but they can compromise the fibers. With recycled natural fibers, you could very well end up paying more for a bag or shirt that won’t last as long as a brand-new organic (or recycled plastic) one would.

As for silk, I wasn’t a fan of the stuff even before I was vegan. It’s delicate, hard to sew on, and snags/rips too easily for my liking – not to mention being way too hot in warmer climates. Bottom line: impractical. (I had a silk puffy jacket during the El Nino years and couldn’t wear it after SoCal dried out – too hot. And despite how particular I am about my clothes, it was already starting to look pretty bad. The recycled-sari pillows and throw I used to have on my bed were full of holes and torn seams within a year.)

Incidentally, this trend of buying cheap clothing during a recession isn’t exactly green either. Cheap stuff requires more frequent replacement. If you’re 10 years old and growing like a weed, this isn’t a big deal. If you are done growing, please choose your clothing (and whatever else you buy) as carefully as your budget will allow. I still own a pair of pinstripe pants I’ve had since 2002. I’ve altered and repaired them several times (and lost track of the number of times I’ve had to fix threads pulled by my cat), but they’re easily good for a few more years.