Vegan Living & Ethical Buying

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  • That is lovely! I am vegan myself but I don't bother too much about where do I buy from... I just don't want to eat or abuse animals and that's it. :)
  • Ben84
    Ben84 Posts: 3,069
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    savvy wrote: »
    I do this as well, certainly wasn't in a position to replace everything! Not only that, it's not great for the environment hey :(

    That's what I thought about my remaining leather items from before going vegan. Throwing them out doesn't benefit animals, so I figure there's no reason to do it.

    I think a big part of how I feel however is not guilt for once eating and wearing animals, but positivity about not doing it any more. Possibly one of the big barriers to people going vegan is having to reconsider years of not being vegan - I guess going vegan is deciding it didn't really match your ethics, but that shouldn't be a factor. Today is today, choose things based on where you are now.
  • I also keep on using leather items - I used a leather purse and handbag for a long time, and have just replaced them with a Matt & Nat handbag and purse.

    On shoes, it's slightly trickier - I do my best, but I'm a woman with size 9 feet so I'm limited in shoe options anyway. I keep re-heeling a few pairs of boots I own, but they're almost at the end of their lifecycle. Can anyone recommend an online vegan store which does non-standard shoe sizes?
  • Ben84
    Ben84 Posts: 3,069
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    I also keep on using leather items - I used a leather purse and handbag for a long time, and have just replaced them with a Matt & Nat handbag and purse.

    On shoes, it's slightly trickier - I do my best, but I'm a woman with size 9 feet so I'm limited in shoe options anyway. I keep re-heeling a few pairs of boots I own, but they're almost at the end of their lifecycle. Can anyone recommend an online vegan store which does non-standard shoe sizes?

    If you're after trainers and walking boots, I suppose any size nine will do, or are men's shoes distinct in some way? I've been really happy to find the Johnscliffe KATHMANDU shoes, they're synthetic materials (although many retailers don't state this so double check before buying in case they ever change materials), and they're pretty cheap at ~£40, very comfortable and long lasting. I've had a couple of pairs now, they're some of the longer lasting shoes I've owned, so the extra £10 or so price is actually worth it financially as well as for vegan reasons.
  • I also keep on using leather items - I used a leather purse and handbag for a long time, and have just replaced them with a Matt & Nat handbag and purse.

    On shoes, it's slightly trickier - I do my best, but I'm a woman with size 9 feet so I'm limited in shoe options anyway. I keep re-heeling a few pairs of boots I own, but they're almost at the end of their lifecycle. Can anyone recommend an online vegan store which does non-standard shoe sizes?

    Some of New Look's shoes are vegan, and may be able to offer something in your size at a reasonable/affordable price.
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  • Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately New Look lie when it comes to the sizing of their shoes! About ten years ago they made a change to their style and their 9s are no longer 9s - they feel like 8s. The only high street shops which work for size 9s are Shoe Zone, Evans and Deichmanns. I buy men's running shoes and Ethletic general trainers, but I was wanting to replace my lovely knee high boots. After checking every single shoe website on ethical consumer (why do so few offer a 'search by size' option?) I've found a gorgeous pair on Will's Vegan Shoes online. Not at all cheap, but I very very rarely buy shoes (I bought two new pairs last year, and before that I hadn't bought anything in at least three years) so I'll happily pay for ethical shoes that fit me and will last. I got Christmas money which I don't know what to spend on, so might spend on those.
  • Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately New Look lie when it comes to the sizing of their shoes! About ten years ago they made a change to their style and their 9s are no longer 9s - they feel like 8s. The only high street shops which work for size 9s are Shoe Zone, Evans and Deichmanns. I buy men's running shoes and Ethletic general trainers, but I was wanting to replace my lovely knee high boots. After checking every single shoe website on ethical consumer (why do so few offer a 'search by size' option?) I've found a gorgeous pair on Will's Vegan Shoes online. Not at all cheap, but I very very rarely buy shoes (I bought two new pairs last year, and before that I hadn't bought anything in at least three years) so I'll happily pay for ethical shoes that fit me and will last. I got Christmas money which I don't know what to spend on, so might spend on those.

    Glad you found some in the end. At least you know these will last you years. If they are true to size then even better :)
    GC £150 a month for food, toiletries and cleaning Jan £134.58 Feb
    Forever learning the art of frugality
  • Leather - When I first became veggie as a teenager i gave away all my leather things so I never had the issue when I became vegan ;) in all honesty, there are arguments for and against and I can see the validity in those arguments. For me I no longer felt comfortable with wearing it and I felt guilty for my previous choices so didn't want a constant reminder :(

    Nothing much to report...doing very well on using up current stocks of food, I'm sticking to my budget now and I've got a weekend of peace ahead of me - I'm really looking forward to it! :D
  • Hi everyone!

    I will shortly be starting a new job (am currently a PhD student with zero income, scraping by on my husband's salary and savings at the moment), and have decided I want to commit to "living lightly". For me that means cutting way down on meat (and purchasing organic, ethically produced British meat - I would go vegan but my husband wouldn't!), eliminating dairy completely and changing my food shopping habits to reduce plastic as much as possible.

    One place I hope to start is that I have been using nutmilks for a while now, but currently buy them in tetrapak cartons so want to start making my own milk. I also want to investigate places you can buy things such as lentils, beans, nuts, pasta etc lose without any packaging.

    In terms of clothes and other items around the house (such as food storage etc), I will continue to use the things I have until they wear out but intend to then replace them with ethical, sustainably produced, plastic-free alternatives. My intention is that by buying more expensive but better quality items, they will last a lot longer and work out to be cost effective (if not cheaper!). To this end, I've discovered BuyMeOnce.com website which is fab (though they consider only the longevity of items and not the ethical-ness of them).

    What are everyone's views on the H&M Conscious range? I've been doing some research into ethical clothing brands but am struggling to find opinions on this particular range (which is designed to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly than the standard H&M clothes).
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  • savvy
    savvy Posts: 31,128
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    One place I hope to start is that I have been using nutmilks for a while now, but currently buy them in tetrapak cartons so want to start making my own milk. I also want to investigate places you can buy things such as lentils, beans, nuts, pasta etc lose without any packaging.
    It's been such a pain in my city, we used to have a few scoop and weigh places but they've all gone now. We do now have a vegan supermarket where you can buy these things, but it's mostly organic products so not exactly cheap. Have you got any health shops around that do this? There are food co-operatives around but I've never been able to track them down here, and Suma sell online and on Amazon, that might be useful.
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