I'm not vegan,but in my squatter/traveler days I used shoestrings for belts.Never had one break.

You really point out crucial points that people refuse to acknowledge.

Everyone is on a different spectrum, with different bits of knowledge swimming around their brains, and different reasons for deciding on a lifestyle. For example, my "beef" with fake butter when I was vegan was that I could get real butter from the farmer down the road that treated his cows well and barely made a living for himself..or I could buy packaged and transported fake butter from the store. Tough call. I made a decision that others don't condone, but that's OK with me.

Doesn't anybody care about all those dead little naugas?

I say buy a leather belt, I have worn the same brown leather belt with jeans for 15 years, probably it will last 15 more. The fact is plenty of people are still going to eat meat, even if they don't, cows will die of natural causes, it makes sense to use its hide. Vinyl is made from oil and they don't last as long. Tanning leather is not exactly environmentally friendly, but if one belt lasts 30 years its better than the process to make vinyl. Oil is a finite substance so we shouldn't waste it on things like vinyl belts(or car fuel). Oil is to valuable for its uses in making high grade medical plastics(we don't have a substitute at this point, with people living longer we'll need more artificial hips etc) to be used to make junk. Thats the way I see it anyway.

If you're a vegan for animal rights reasons, you should also be an environmental vegan. What we do to the environment has a far more detrimental effect on the lives of animals than simply eating/using them. (I realize that our farming methods feed into the environmental impact, but that's not the whole story.) I say choose the greener option if you're really concerned about animal welfare.

I was an environmental vegan for about 18 months, I made the hideous decision to go back to eating dairy just because I've always been controlling and obsessive over food without adding to it, I'm happier having a veggie diet most of the time with the occasion addition of fish so now I don't even class myself vegetarian. On the other hand I've put on weight and have pretty much cut out dairy again (I've always been controlling of my weight...)
I kept all of my leather products that I had accumulated and still bought second hand leather products then the point of leather being more environmentally friendly than vinyl was put to me. It was a massive debate in my head for about 2 weeks, and I decided to go back to using leather and just ignored all of the holier than thou vegans. Most holier than thou vegans where I live are doing it because it's fashionable anyway, it's just another fashion statement nowadays. I try to avoid conversations in real life about my diet because I can't handle animal rights nazis, most talk complete bullshit anyway.

I never bought leather, even when I was just vegetarian. But if someone gifts me something leather I will use it. Someone gifted me two really nice handmade leather belts and a pair of velvet doc martens. I use them and I will use them until they break. But I won't give money to support the death of cows or wear fur, and I dont even like faux leather all that much. Not my style unless its just vegan boots.

interesting article, everyone should just do the best they can, i like buying blazers but most are made of wool, so i skip it. i think wearing faux leather is good even if u have to replace them becuz u have to support those lil people that make faux things. but i agree that shopping resale is kosher if ure going to wear leather shopping resale aint bad thing. its hard ot find good shoes that arn't leather. fuck the haters, be sensible.

i am in the same boat. i keep going up and down the ladders. i been veg for 6/7 years, vegan for 18 months and now i eat fish, but ive been getting flack for it. i dint know fish wasnt veg, i dont know that many vegs and when i was entry level veg kids i talkd to never really got on the topic of fish it was misnomer. pescatarian is weak though, but ive been sick physcically and emotionally, im gonna go quit fish soon go back to standard vegetarian. i also dunt feel bad about leather n stuff like that anymore and i try not to get into convos with people about vegan politics, they retards who think they green whilst they pick at u while holding a cheeseburger. did u see scott pilgrim? vegan gives u super powers its true..quit the fish, it is a movement, it effects urself and others

Exactly. I had this dilemma for a while, then decided that second hand leather was ok. My reasoning was that I wasn't buying new leather and contributing to the death of an animal. I was just wearing something that was another person's cast offs.

Almost anything you can make with leather can be made with hemp, flax, or cotton. Cotton weave belts have been in use for hundreds of years, and shoes can be woven of hemp and flax. In fact, footwear can be made from wood as well.

But the real argument here is how much are we impacting the environment by using those products anyway? Cotton farms are just as environmentally consumptive as free range cow farms (the types of farms where the cows are used entirely when their lives are over), and cotton will not stand the test of time.

Veganism is a choice I can appreciate, but at what point do you cease to end something's life to have something you need? Trees have to die for building houses, burning in fireplaces, and making furniture. Land has to be gouged for stone and sand to make other building materials . . . and metal is ripped from the earth's bowels to make zippers, buttons, snaps, etc.

Be a dietary vegan because it is good for your health, but be realistic in your approach to the environment. If we decided not to impact our earth at all, we would die.

You can find leather products made from free range or humanely raised cattle, or from honestly (not sport) hunted game animals such as elk or deer (although deerskin belts don't really hold up well), or from other types of hunted hides, such as sharkskin, snakeskin, alligator, or crocodile. Or you can buy second hand.

Cotton weave belts are good belts, I suggest them. Anyhow, they last far longer than cheap Wal Mart brand bonded leather anyhow. As far as footwear goes? Well, in non-snowy places, canvas sneakers with cork soles are pretty nice. Expensive, but nice. Teva still makes sandals out of old tires too - recycling.

Plenty of alternatives for leather. Just might have to deal with the difficulty of finding them.

lots of good points. right with you on the more holy than thou thing. bagels made with honey, wool sweaters and hiking boots--just some of things i hear from time to time.

who is perfect with anything?

and at the same time i will every so often go through periods of no wool, leather or honey-- just be really diehard. and during these periods have to admit a much greater attachment to my vegan practice. it always feels really good. notice myself feeling more loving, more sensitive..

it is very possible to shift around through the full range of vegan practice. why not?
also-- many vegans feel, in this world of so many people starving to death, the whole vegan thing to be a bit precious, a bit of a reach. i will be a vegan forever--yet a vegan with eyes wide open.