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  Posted by Mountainmystic at 09/16/17 15:27:34

  Anita--Welcome to the forum. Happy to see vegetarian and vegan people from Ireland and many countries on here. I'm in the U.S. Great to hear you are progressing as a vegetarian. Celebrate that.
  
  Naivety to awareness--celebrate that you made that connection. As for the leather industry, yes it's as bad as they say. It's all part of the stockyards to slaughter house to processing plant. Its animal cruelty at a high level.
  
  As for wearing leather boots. I understand your conflict. I think you should ask the spirit of the dead cow for forgiveness and honor the gift she gave you. Don't waste the resource. Thank the cow for teaching you. Some may question you and label you a hypocrite for wearing cow hide. Yiu are,aware now. Be one with your choice. Once you become aware, it's a great journey with so much happiness and inner growth. Peace to you. ---Mountain Mystic

  
  
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  Posted by tulips.and.trains at 09/17/17 12:54:43

  Hi Anita,
  I don't know anything about which cows are being slaughtered for their leather, but I do have a conservationist point that may put you slightly at ease.
  
  The positive side of wearing leather is in it's environmental impact: leather is extremely durable. Because it is durable, fewer resources will go into you buying and wearing out poor-quality clothing as quickly. Leather boots that might last you 5 or 10 years, which is probably better for the environment and definitely more sustainable than wearing a new pair of plastic boots every year.
  
  All that said, I would try not to feel too guilty about buying a pair of boots, so long as you get a lot of use out of them. Please don't throw them out! At least donate them to a friend if you cannot get over the fact that you are wearing animal.
  
  Good luck,
  Emily

  
  
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  Posted by happah10 at 09/17/17 14:31:43

  I went to a totally plant based diet coming up on 2 years ago. Some would say vegan except for the shoes.
  
  That's because after more than a year of trying to buy shoes that fit (or at least didn't kill my feet) and met some other requirements that I won't name because people always say there's lots of choices when in fact there isn't. I've returned so many shoes to the shoe store I think they were about to ban me from the store.
  
  Finally I broke down and bought leather shoes. I didn't and don't want to wear leather shoes and it's got nothing to do with vanity. This particular pair of shoes fits and is comfortable and does what the vegan shoes didn't do despite their claims to the contrary.
  
  That's just my experience. Others may vary and I would encourage you to try non-leather shoes and apparel to see if you can make it work.
  
  Other than that, I still have some leather items left over that I still use because I couldn't bring myself to just throw them away or donate them when they are things like a belt and sofa that I've had forever.
  
  It's not just about the 4 legged animals either by the way. The 2 legged animals that work in the leather industry in poor countries are in horrible working conditions, knee deep in dangerous chemicals.
  
  Plus wearing the hide of a dead animal sounds barbaric to me. It never made sense. Unfortunately, all too often, the alternatives are petro based which aren't great.

  
  
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  Posted by ForestNymph at 10/01/17 07:10:27

  What some vegans do is wear old leather shoes they've obtained second hand from thrift stores or vintage clothing stores, so that you can have have a lower-waste form of durable foot wear that also doesn't encourage the harm of any new animals. If you already "accidentally" purchased leather boots or shoes brand new, it's really a matter of opinion if it's better to just keep them , because there are vegans who won't even wear old leather because they feel it is speciesist or objectifies the animal even if no new cattle were harmed by the old shoes.
  
  I know that PETA advises people to give old fur coats to homeless people, that one of the ways to handle the situation is to give to someone truly in need. When I first switched to vegan from vegetarian one of the things I did was give food that still contained dairy to a local food pantry. However, I do own a pair of leather hiking shoes that were purchased for me by someone, and I keep them because I need them. I try to buy vegan usually, though, whether it's make-up or shampoo or shoes, otherwise.
  
  

  
  
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  Posted by babloo at 10/17/17 09:58:26

  Leather is a durable and flexible material created by animal skin cattle majorly. Leather is used to make various products-including clothing (jackets, skirts, trousers), leather shoes, leather belts. What’s more, leather is used for many other purposes such as bookbinding, wallpapers, and as a furniture covering.
  There is pleather of types and styles in which leather is produced using different techniques.
  Did you know? That among all the goods produced with leather, Shoe is the product which is produced majorly from leather. Having said that, different types leather is used to make different types of leather shoes. Quality of a leather shoe depends upon the type of the leather used to prepare it, by this I mean that different types of leather shoes are prepared using different types of leather.
  Which leather type is to be used depends on the certain range of thickness of the leather.
  LEATHER TYPES USED IN MAKING SHOES
  The most preferred leather used for shoes is calfskin leather. This leather type comes from calf, it has a tighter grain and fiber. Moreover, it is thinner and lighter than cow’s skin. This property of calfskin leather makes the shoes better in every possible way.
  
  Not only calfskin but other animal's skin are also used to produced leather like • Cordovan Shell (from Horse), • Kidskin (from Goat), • Pigskin (from the pig).
  
  This is certainly too sad to know but this is how it works and I understand how you feel about this. You should not throw it or your leather shoes away, just use it this time and be careful for the next time.