Vegan Shoes

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EquALLity
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Vegan Shoes

Post by EquALLity »

I'm guessing 'man-made' means vegan?

What if something just says 'fabric lining' (or 'fabric upper' etc.), but nothing more? Could those fabrics be pretty much anything (leather is a fabric)? I can't find anything online about that.

Or would they put 'leather lining' (etc.), because animal fabrics are generally considered better?
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Red
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Re: Vegan Shoes

Post by Red »

A good alternative to cow leather is tree leather or pleather. That's what my loafers are made of!
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EquALLity
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Re: Vegan Shoes

Post by EquALLity »

First world problems, but I'm a little confused.

I was concerned that there might be some leather padding or something in these shoes I found on Kohl's. No one answered my question about it on Kohl's, but I found the same ones on Overstock (slightly different name but some of the same pictures), so I asked the question in their Q&A section,

"Are these boots composed of entirely man made material? Including the lining and slightly padded footbed etc.?"
Overstockcustomercare1 answered: "Hello (name), yes the boot is man-made. Thank you for shopping with us."

On both sites, everything about the shoe materials indicated that they were man made (on Kohl's it says 'Manmade upper & lining', and 'Manmade outsole').

So then they came, and I checked the label just to be careful, and I noticed that it said 'PU' multiple times.

"'PU'? What the hell is that?"
So I looked it up.

A lot of things came up about 'PU leather', which is apparently a little bit of leather with a lot of plastic coating. The shoes I got don't say 'PU leather', though, just 'PU.'

I see Peta2 says 'PU' is vegan: http://www.peta2.com/lifestyle/guide-to ... n-leather/
Whew, I should be good then.

But... http://www.slate.com/articles/health_an ... ather.html
Hm, well at least it's the better leather alternative. Should probably still avoid it from now on though.
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Red
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Re: Vegan Shoes

Post by Red »

The problem is, we use animals for everything, even though when there are other resources available. Even your phone and CPU are made of animal gelatin. Anyhow, I fail to see the practicality with buying and using animal products, when there are in fact better, cheaper, and harmless alternatives.
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Heinechan
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Re: Vegan Shoes

Post by Heinechan »

Leather would not be called a fabric in this context, no.

Shoe labeling is notoriously (imo) unhelpful and inaccurate. It's not like food where ingredients have to be disclosed. Sometimes you'll find shoes that don't have material labeling at all or it's incomplete. I'm at the point now where I'll usually avoid something altogether if it has leather or suede looking material. That way I can apply a common sense test: does this shoe reasonably appear to be made of non animal derived components?

To take the guess work out of it you can buy from vegetarian minded companies, but that can be limiting.
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Re: Vegan Shoes

Post by brimstoneSalad »

If it has leather in it, that will usually be listed proudly, since that's considered a selling point for most customers (not something the shoe maker would want to hide).

PU is polyurethane. Also not ideal, but shoes last years and don't weigh very much; it's more important to avoid waste in packaging where you can than to avoid occasional petrochemical clothing that lasts a long time.

Aside from plastic and leather, there aren't a lot of other viable options for shoes. Just try to keep your shoes up, and be cheap; fix them when you can, and don't throw them out right away when they're old.
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