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Is being vegan just a trendy passing? How (not) to be vegan.

I love that the new trend these days is vegan leather. Vegan everything.

Vegan suede, vegan tweed, vegan silk, vegan fur, vegan this, vegan that.

I’m totally on board with this trend, mind you, but it is just kind of funny that it’s… all.. just.. vegetables and plastic, re-formulated and marketed to us plebs as a socially conscious way to live our lives with less guilt and shame.

Want to sell a plastic leather bag?

Call it a vegan leather bag and it’ll fly off the shelves into hot little hipster paws.

Personally, I try hard to eat vegetarian and vegan as much as I can because it is not only healthier for me, but for the environment as well, but it has to taste good.

I identify more with being flexitarian than I do vegetarian or vegan, and when I eat meat, I eat less of it than I used to (think: one single portioned chicken thigh per meal rather than two whole thighs & drumsticks per meal which is now four portions for me).

My style and things?

Same thing. I own vegan leather bags, vegan tweed bags (not made out of wool), vegan suede skirts and jackets, and they are fantastic.

I didn’t buy them just because they were vegan, I bought them in spite of it. Just kidding.

No really though, I bought them because the were amazing pieces and they just happened to be vegan which was just a bonus, an icing on the cake.

They feel great, they look great, they drape well and are absolutely worth the (normally) lower price point.

And that, is how you can transform people’s perceptions, it’s by making sure what you make is absolute perfection.

A great tasting burger that is vegan, a fantastic bag that no one can tell is not fake leather to the point where it wears down beautifully like leather (curiously, only the defunct Samsara line of Matt & Nat has done this successfully), shown below:

After years of use, it still looks incredible and has worn like leather:

https://api.shopstyle.com/action/apiVisitRetailer?id=528941329&pid=uid1104-32002848-44

It’s not by forcing it down my throat with some moral high and mighty “thou shalt not” rule that I have to do it to be healthier, or by shaming me into thinking of the environment and being eco-conscious….it just doesn’t work on me, and I’m considered very sympathetic to the entire cause, in fact, even paying more money sometimes for things that are vegan when a cheaper substitute exists!

It’s just interesting that the new marketing angle is all based on shaming us for our life choices now and how good and moral one can be, rather than shaming us for the way we superficially look and present ourselves.

What do you think?

6 Comments

  • raluca

    On the one hand, I love that vegan became fashionable because we can now find bags that are beautiful and not leather. Leather is heavy and I love my bags to be as light as possible. Also, good synthetics are better for walking in the rain and where I live that is a requirement.

    On the other hand, marketing cheap plastic as vegan leather allows anyone to ask a lot of money for badly made shoes and bags.

    As always, it’s buyer beware.

    • Sherry of Save. Spend. Splurge.

      I have a vegan leather bag from Matt and Nat’s old line (Samsara) and no one can believe it’s vegan leather. They think it’s real leather, it wears as beautifully as the real thing. Their bags these days however, don’t have that same pliability..

  • Sarah

    Kathy, for vegans eating animals=eating people. I’m sure homicidal murderers would feel the same way about humans who don’t kill other humans 😉

  • Kathy

    I love what you said about the moral high ground because I do feel sometimes that vegans – also runners – claim to be just a little superior to those of us who do not follow those practices. Also the gluten free people who are gluten free because some movie star is and they don’t need to do that for any medical reason.. I’m not sure why anyone other than my doctor cares about what I eat but many people certainly do seem to feel they are justified to make judgment about it.

    • Sherry of Save. Spend. Splurge.

      Gluten free is only medically necessary for those who are allergic to gluten.. I find they don’t even go to restaurants in fear of any piece of gluten possibly making its crumbly way into their food. It is amazing what they have to avoid.. I knew someone who has celic (the disease) and she was PARANOID about going near packaged foods the same way people feel about nuts.

      That gluten free stuff.. I don’t know. I love it. It’s what makes bread amazing.

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