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:

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?