People Are Sharing Their Thoughts On Fur Vs. Vegan Options, And It Might Make You Think Twice About Your Next Purchase
In the past years, many fashion brands have gone fur-free (and leather-free), from Gucci to Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors. The recent surge in the anti-fur movement shows that more and more people are concerned with animal rights and the environment. The clothing industry is now shifting towards more conscious, sustainable, and animal- and eco-friendly products.
But the debate on fur vs. vegan clothes is far from over and the topic is as controversial as ever. So recently, people initiated a Tumblr thread to shine some light on whether wearing fur and leather clothing is truly so harmful to animals and the environment, and if vegan clothes are genuinely so innocent and animal-friendly.
The Tumblr user teaboot first wrote “I understand why people dislike leather and animal products,” but she then continued by stating that she still wears her mom’s leather coat from 1989.
More people joined in, throwing in some illuminating reasoning on just why animal and fur products might be in fact superior to vegan clothing. Read the full thread down below, which will surely give everyone a lot to think about on this hot topic.
This Tumblr thread defending fur and animal clothes against vegan ones gives a lot to think about
This person tried to debunk the belief that vegan materials are superior to natural ones, claiming it’s just another form of plastic
Bored Panda reached out to Vaida Baranove, a musician and devoted environmentalist who commented on the heated debate which has been going on in the thread. “Yes, vegans do not wear clothes or accessories that are made of animal-origin materials: leather, fur, silk, wool, velvet, etc.,” she said.
However, “Since many of these materials are often more sustainable than their vegan alternatives (for example, a genuine leather jacket can easily provide warmth for more than one generation), we have to remember that vegans, just like other activists, need to choose their battles.” Vegans, Vaida explained, always choose the battle for the animals.
This person explained why natural materials like hemp, cotton, and linen may not be an option
But when it comes to cultural contexts, things get a little more tricky. “Yet, as a vegan, would I ask someone living in the Arctic to wear a teddy coat or a puffer jacket instead of their fur one? Definitely not. Why on Earth would I come after someone who‘s already struggling to survive in such harsh conditions?”
Having said that, Vaida said that as a vegan, she asks her Western European friends to stop buying leather shoes. “Their comfort is not a good enough reason to kill a sentient being.”
This person claims that wool, fur, and down are the only materials that keep you warm in harsh climates
Veganism means that you have to be aware of all the materials that your clothes are made of. While cotton, linen, hemp fabric, quality denim, seaweed, coconut fiber, etc. may be great options, they are not ideal for harsher climates.
“There’s also rPET, which stands for recycled polyethylene terephthalate or simply ‘recycled polyester’ aka recycled plastic bottles. Some fantastic warm parkas are made of this fabric,” Vaida said.
In the end, it’s all about “not giving into the temptation of buying a ton of fast fashion items that scream that they are now vegan.” Vaida suggests buying smart, buying less, and taking good care of your clothes.
Someone said that sheep shearing is harmful, but this person had a response ready
Image credits: TheJournal.ie
Image credits: teaboot
I am vegan and I love being one but the community sucks. Fur farms can be disturbing af (friggin documentaries scarred me) BUT thrift stores and Indigenous furriers are both great sources! As for eating meat and animal products, it comes down to what you hold important through researching the subject. Turning a blind eye is the worst thing you can do here.
Veganism is a privilege and classist lifestyle. If you live where the growing season is very short and the cost.of transportation makes a head of lettuce cost $20 then you don't have the luxury of being vegan. Particularly in northern Canada and Alaska...places where they have to wear animal products in winter to survive. ... veganism is a lifestyle choice that should be no more pushed on to others as religion, sexual orientation or what have you. Being close minded is the worst you can do here.
Load More Replies...1) Search 'Shrek the sheep' if you think sheep don't need to be sheared. 2) If you eat meat, the most ethical thing to do is to use all of the animal you can. Fur and leather included. If you live in the arctic, and you are indigenous, chances are you rely, at least partially, on subsistance hunting to feed yourself through the winter, because imported food is often very expensive. 3) Not all vegan alternatives are ethically sourced. Often the raw materials are extracted in environmentally harmful ways, and byproducts and refuse are pollutants damaging to the environment. 4) All consumption causes some level of environmental damage. Plant based products included. Think about the habitat destruction, pesticide and fertilizer pollution, processing costs (building factories, powering them, byproducts), transport, waste disposal. The ethical thing to do is to consume less. Reusing and repurposing vintage materials is a great way to do that.
Thank you! I live in italy and we have a lot of good quality leather. No one is fussing about it. You know why? Because people know where leather comes from, if you have to kill an animal for it, why don't you use every part? We eat a lot of animal parts other people do not eat, like the internal organs of cows, sheeps and so on. And guess what? They are good!
Load More Replies...They are making some very good points. The only people who've ever said to me that my fur clothings were unethical were people living in areas where the coldest temperature you can get in winter is like -2°C. I'm sorry, if it's going to be -20°C where I live, I'll be wearing a fur coat and a felt chapka, not some cheap plastic stuff that'll just get wet and give me a cold.
It probably has a lot to do with wearing fur as a fashion product, like whole fox around your neck when you actually don't need it, just have money for it and brag about it, but a lot of these people fighting against it might have forgotten about those who truly need and prefer it, in terms of weather conditions.
Load More Replies...I will say: this sounds a bit like a fake argument. I'm an omnivore, and I do use leather and wool, but there really are good arguments for veganism (both health and environmental). I think the real trap comes from black & white thinking... both sides show different and thoughtful tactics that work with their specific ethics. Self-righteousness may feel good, but it doesn't help any kind of discussion.
You're spot on. People seem to think that saying anything positive about vegans or veganism is bad or that it's a black and white issue when it isn't. There are so many other factors involved (the impact of raising animals, how materials are processed, shipping distance, secondhand vs new, etc). I'll also say this, I have a lot more respect for a vegan who's done their research and given the issue thought than an omnivore who hasn't thought about it at all.
Load More Replies...Another cherrypicked, one-sided, poorly researched article from the Bored Panda on veganism. It’s not the indigenous people or people who’ve been wearing the leather coat of their grandma that drives the argument against leather and fur industries. Here are some more things that article like this should had considered: 1) the material itself is only one thing to consider when we talk about environmental impact. Another one is the amount of resources needed for its production. And items made of plastic need very little in comparison to those made of leather (think of water and farmland needed for raising the animals, methane and waste production, the chemicals used in tanning). This is an uncomfortable truth but, for example, reusing plastic bags is more environmentally friendly than switching to single-usable ones from recycled paper. Yes, there is problem about plastic recycling, more on that below.
4) This article seriously downplays the environmental impact and cruelty of modern leather and fur industries. Indigenous people doing the thing they’ve been doing for centuries is a very small part of this (and rather non-problematic part). Millions of minks culled in Denmark? Forced children labour with toxic chemicals in tanneries in India? These are just a few examples. And, unfortunately, typically animals raised for leather are not the same than those raised for meat. Mostly because it’s more convenient for the big industries this way, but, in some cases, also for purely aesthetic reasons (for example, the softest and most exclusive leather can be obtained from calves before they are born; thus, pregnant cows are slaughtered for the purpose).
Load More Replies...I'm not sure how the leather industry sources materials but when they butcher cattle (and other proteins) for meat the skin is supposed to be used somehow right? You don't cook it, use it to make leather otherwise it goes to waste. However the process of making leather is also toxic and polluting, maybe we should focus on improving that?
I have shoes made of pineapple leather, those are vegan and not plastic. Maybe look beyond what you know and learn before spreading this one-sided article.
I think this article falls for the fallacy of over simplification. Vegan sources for apparel may be unsustainable plastic, but it may be sources such as also heavily used by indigenous people. Hemp fiber is one such example. Most (that is, 99%) animal sources such as leather are not romantically produced by tribes who wear one piece for 30 years but come from nasty factory farms (which anyone with a remaining empathy for living things will condemn) and are quickly disposed off. Thus, veganism is not the way to save the planet. Sustainable and ethical sourcing is - and admittedly this includes significant reductions in the consumption of animal-based products. The latter is not ideology but a fact.
Isn't this, as usual, a false dichotomy? If you buy what you need and buy responsibly then you are protecting the planet and ultimately protecting the animals on it. Good idea to reuse and repurpose. Although there ARE alternatives to fur for extreme cold, buying old fur and repurposing is cheaper and ethically responsible. There should be no real argument here, looks like someone has engineered one for our 'amusement'?
Exactly. People are trying to simplify an issue that is way more complex than just "fur vs faux fur"
Load More Replies...I am vegan-ish primarily for environmental reasons. Veganism is all well and good, but it just won't work for everyone. Some people have specific dietary needs. Some people, like the ones above, live in sub-arctic regions where hemp and plastic aren't going to protect them. But, just like any group of people, there is always the loud, obnoxious, criminally ignorant group who want to tell everyone else why their ideology is superior. Personally, I don't have a problem with people in the far north who wear animal products. I have a problem with commercial furriers. I don't actually have a moral objection to eating meat. I have a huge moral objection to commercial farms (holy mother of God they are the stuff of nightmares on a number of levels). There is a conversation to be had, but Starshine Crystal Worshipper isn't going to move that conversation forward with her self-righteous, fist-shaking shouts of outrage. It's going to take regular folks sitting down and listening to one another.
its more cruel to not shear a sheep..... If you don't shear your sheep it will attract bugs, causes overheating, and urine and feces will get trapped in the wool. I mean really..... just look it up!
Thats cause people bred sheep so they have lots of wool = $$. But there are also sheep in nature, that dont need shaving. So if people did not meddle with sheep they do not need shaving.
Load More Replies...Nothing riles me more than the term 'Vegan Leather', especially if I'm filtering products to select 'Leather' and the results are full of plastic PU Leather options.
Flystrike IS horrific....no one would want an animal to suffer that...
Having worked with sheep, they kinda need sheering, or they end up an absolute mess of fluff lol. Brother and his gf are vegan yet both wear leather and buy fur (from charity shops and used places) it last ages so to throw away what's already made is a complete waste
This feels a lot like the electric car discussion. A whole lot of electricity (over 60% in the USA) is created by burning coal. Which emissions are the worst? Car or coal? This just shows that life is complicated and most issues cannot be solved in 140 characters or less.
You do the best you can with knowledge you've obtained and continue to obtain. That's what veganism has always been and will always be about. It's impossible at this point in time, and will be for a long time, to live 100% vegan -- any rational vegan would tell you that. The lifestyle is so unique and 'radical' because normal operations in every industry are heavily opposite of animal and/or environment friendly, as well as the large majority people everywhere being narrow-minded as hell. We have to continue to learn, modify and better ourselves and keep an open mind, qualities this braindead article severely lack. The more we expose the harmful norms of our societies, the more we can improve the world for all. Veganism is only 'radical' because we've been conditioned to accept animal exploitation as normal and necessary. Vegans fight back against this falsehood with their everyday choices and purchases, and it's super easy. I've been doing so for years, and I've never felt, looked, performed better and I'm saving money.
Load More Replies...Some bright spark is making leather from cactus fibres which is pretty awesome, but I’m happy to wear a second hand fur or leather coat. Plus faux leathers peel and shed everywhere after a while, and it’s annoying.
Well, let's not pretend that raising animals is more ecological than producing plastic. Cows produce more greenhouse gasses than all the cars on the planet. The choice between leather and fake leather is a choice between plague and cholera.
Vegan "leather" is made from some very nasty chemicals, and pollutes the environment far more than leather tanning and processing. And why is it bad to honor an animal that died before I was born? What gives you the right to disrespect that animal - and my property - by throwing paint on it? I am not able to wear fake leather due to allergies, but real leather is ok for me to wear. So lay off.
Even as a vegan, I don't think it is so bad to wear second-hand leather or fur, though I find it disgusting. That said, I do object to the idea that you are 'respecting' the animal by doing so. This is an animal that didn't want to die, that was abused and used his/her whole life was killed by the people who claim that they 'protect' and 'love' their animals. You wear a victim's skin, that is not respect. Would it be respectful to kill your dog and wear their skin as your own?
Load More Replies...Yeah, vegan is plastic and plastic only. Not worth my time. The usual vegan-bashing nonsense you find at BP - seems some of the contributors might have an issue they should sort out.
So this is okay, but when there is a rescue topic on BoredPanda everybody is so happy that the fox (or whatever animal) is saved from the fur factory.
https://www.boredpanda.com/fox-rescued-from-fur-farm-stien-van-der-ploeg/
Load More Replies...The problem is with the majority who've never lived even close to Arctic/Subarctic etc. conditions yet crave furs to show off. Same with the hunting thing. People who've never had anything heavier than the wallet or a cocktail in their hands....
Sensitive subject. But I have to add that, although I'm not vegan, I think fur farms should not exist. It's exploitation. I know of someone whoe keeps grey foxes for that reason, in cages outside, then they are killed just for their fur. And think about the present case of minks in Denmark. We sometimes are pathetic beings.
I live where it sometimes gets as low as -40 in winter (not including wind chill) and I've never owned a fur coat. Goose down, yes. I also have polyester and fleece garments that are nearly 30 years old and still good. No, I'm not a vegan, but it's simply not true that you can *only* stay warm in severe temperatures with wool and fur. Wool makes me itch now matter what kind it is, so synthetics have been a real lifesaver for me.
This whole discussion is so funny, especially as people take it so seriously... Please respect people's choices and shut the fvck up
You’re going out in the snow in fuzzy high heels? Also don’t forget that a lot of non-animal foods are harvested with the help of what is essentially slave labor. Exploited migrant workers? Children being forced into working for like a penny, or whatever? They don’t do that to slaughter local cattle, though. (And yeah obviously not all fruit and veg products are the result of what’s nearly slave labor)
Who on earth mentioned fuzzy high heels, apart from u? Are u meaning the image of the person modelling the OPs favourite indigenous designer, perhaps?
Load More Replies...I'm against fur farms- animals Are kept in terrible conditions, sick And filthy in small cages, And once the fur Is aquired, the rest of the animal goes to waiste. It's terrible practice. But- if cow lives on open field and gets humanly slaughtered for meat, i see zero issues with using it's skin to make clothes or shoes. At least nothing goes to waiste...
Trust me when I say that a sheep getting shorn doesn't hurt them at all. They just whine like little babies. They hop right up, indignant and run off to go eat. And they feel so much better with the wool off. My Shetlands HAVE to be sheared every year. That is for their health. Their wool keeps me and my family warm. The lambs pay for the feed. They have hilarious personalities. One loves to play tag and eat tortilla chips.
in many years from now, people will find it so cruel to wear somebody else's skin.
Another thing that wasn't mentioned in the messages but is a sad and disturbing fact: researchers are finding that when synthetics such a polar fleece are washed, tiny fibers are washed into the water supply. The wastewater may go to a water treatment plant but the fibers float above the filters and are dumped back in the environment and back into our drinking water. I wear a lot of polar fleece. I'm rethinking that these days.
I would love to see how many of these so called humans would skin and butcher a cat, dog, fox, etc...for a f*****g fur coat! Fur looks better on the animals not humans! And yes cat and dog are butchered for their fur for trinkets made all over the place. Using fake names as rabbit. They are butchered for meat and fur coats! They are stolen pets and or strays. Fur farms are nothing but cash grabs. These souls have feelings and suffer tremendous amounts of pain to be skinned alive for f*****g profit.
My immediate resource in discussions like this is www.honeyrockdawn.com, the farm blog of Shreve Stockton. She raises cattle for milk and meat, and practices it humanely, and blogs about it. I suggest everyone check it out. Consumption of animal products are NOT the problem here; factory farms, fur farms, sport hunting, trophy hunting, and the immense waste that comes from capitalism and big box stores. Additionally, vegetable proteins and animal proteins are not the same thing, and some people simply can't tolerate one or the other for health reasons. AND veganism isn't sustainable in many parts of the world. Desert? You only have very specific crops, not very many of them, and largely it's much easier to get your calories from chicken, goat, etc. Arctic? You need lots of fat and solid protein to help your body stay warm, and for clothing the best option is what all the wildlife uses. Veganism is absolutely both classist AND a personal choice.
I hear it takes 3 sheep to make a sweater... Hell I didn't even know sheep could knit! Wool is actually a renewable resource. Well... until they pass on but still... more sheep to take their places. And yes, shearing is a necessity for the animal. What happens if you don't isn't very pretty.
All I want to say is that there is no place on this earth where micro plastics are not found. From the deepest ocean to the highest mountain. We are literally eating micro plastics every day. It sickens me to think of it.
I'm not a vegan, but have been a vegetarian for over 30 years. I don't have a problem with anyone wearing fur coats - as long as they are vintage. As for wool, sheep need to be shorn. Leather is tricky for me...I wish I knew if the leather was from an animal that was used for something other than its hide..like Native Americans and Indigenous people, if the animal is killed, the sentient animal is used for meat and clothing. I will never accept/condone fur farms.
I am not really into fur of certain animals. But the cow leather I think is great because we can take advantage of a lot of things from the same animal! My country is mainly livestock and we get all the milk derived products, the meat and also de leather from cows. There's no waist!!
maybe choose what side you want ( or mix both) according to the environment you live and work in ? Just remember that your decisions have an impact regardless of which side you choose and thus you should try to do the minimal impact( from a holistic point of view, not ideology)
This article is so one-sided. It answers "vegans" yet does not cite any vegan. Just the strawman evil preachy vegan in the mind of the anti-vegan posters. That is not up to the minimum journalistic standard of "fair and balanced" Boredpanda. You're supposed to be a european outlet, with european standards.
I was told that vegan yarn (made from plants) was better than wool yarn. First off, let me give you linen as an example. To make linen yarn, you have to soften the fiber to make it useful. The traditional method was to dig pits and have the stalks lay in water for several months. It STINKS. Then you have process the fiber and spin it. Bamboo and rayon require chemical processing to soften. None of them have insulating properties like sheep, goats and camelids.
I guess the main problem is that people go into extremes : I reject fur, because we should not put 1000's of animals in tiny cages, just to get their fur. But plastic is the other extreme and not any better... Why not make fur products of happy animals, who had space and decent food??
A lot of companies do; it's on the consumer to research the company and learn more about their practices. A number of the Indigenous companies named use fur from wild animals, instead of factory farming - and as a result each of their products is unique, due to the variations in the fur.
Load More Replies...Veganism has felt like a weird religion for a long time to me. The less animal products you consume, the more "righteous" you are. And then you harangue your friends and family to conform to your beliefs so they too, will be righteous.
The less animal products you consume, the better it is for the environment in general. If everyone continues recklessly breeding and consuming there won't be future generations of humans and many species of animals. Some vegans may be righteous, but in general they are rightfully so. Maybe that feeling of uncomfort when vegans confront you is something you should seriously consider. Maybe a part of you knows you are doing something very evil by killing and torturing innocent animals for food. Maybe watch some documentaries about the factory farming industry if you care about the truth, but I doubt you do, truth monster.
Load More Replies...I`m thinking the same way. When I buy clothes I want it to last. I have bought once eco leather trousers and jacket, and they fell apart very quicly. When I buy good leather boots, I can wear them for 10 years, in that time I will toss at least 10 pair of eco/ vegan/ plastic shoes in garbage. I have also leather jackets and coats that are 30-40 years old. If I can wear them, I can make bags or something else from them. So my opinion is that leather and fur are more eco friendly than eco/ vegan leather. Animals are killed either way for food, so why not used all the resources.
It puzzles me how Americans can pretend to be vegan or vegetarian when nearly every one of them will go out and shoot innocent animals because if "sport" and for no other reason
There's one other thing that baffles me about vegan "ethics". It's how hypocritically selective it is in protecting only certain life forms. Whenever i ask that, i get flustered reaction "Whaaaat? How dare you compare vegetable (flower/tree/whatever) to a cow?!" But it is we who grant ourselves the moral right to judge which life forms are worthy. It can't possibly get more subjective than that. Long time ago there were "scientific" studies that animals don't have intelligence and do not feel the pain. It's simple. It was there to justify hunting. We are moving away from that. But now it's plants that are dumb and therefore can be killed and eaten guilt free. Unless you are a fruitarian...
holy s**t.. finally someone with a brain. vegans are f*****g awful
I agree with this! I was born and grew up in the Urals in Russia - in winter it easily reaches -40C. Fur or down coats, fur or felted wool boots are a must. And yes, they can be used for years and years. My mom bought a fur coat about 40 years ago. She wore it, then I wore it (and would wear it still if I had not gained so much damn weight!) and it is still in a great condition, so my daughter can wear it, too.
It's the industrialisation of animal keeping that is the main focus for vegans, not that indigenous people use seal furs in winter, or a polar bear fur! There's a serious difference! Minks in tiny wire cages without any hay to snuggle in, just to give a rich f**k a status fur??? THAT'S what vegans argue about! Not people livng above the polar circle, where temperatures goes down real low! It seems like you just want to bash vegans and call us dumb, that we are not aware of what is going on, but trust me - we know more than the average person about how animals suffer in industries for beef, milk an dairy, egg and poultry, pigs and fur animals. That is the reason why I stopped eating meat, dairy, eggs and fish, and stopped wearing fur and leather. Did you know that the down jackets that rich people like to wear are stuffed with down and feathers from birds that are alive when they're plucked?? Yes, and they are alive so they can get plucked more than once!
So all of you that have argued your cases and those that came to vent, where are your awards please... Cos none of you succeeded in convincing the other. Bottom line is those who claim to be vegan will continue to live their lives and those that are not will not die because they aren't... And the earth will continue to revolve and rotate and nothing will matter at the end
Gosh, you are stupid. Then how did the vegans become vegan? Someone convinced them because the arguments are convincing. Go watching some documentaries about the factory farming industry. That tends to make a lot of vegans. Animals are very cruelly raised, tortured, and murdered. It's not ok. It will make any caring human being sick with grief. There are also no good arguments to eat meat when the alternatives are available to you. It comes down to wants vs. needs. You may want the taste of meat, but the animals need and deserve their lives (especially torture free).
Load More Replies...And don't forget about the rainforests being cut down to plant soybean plants...
Simple solution leave the animals the f**k alone and recycle the dead especially fat Americans who would make a lot of leather
I have a 30+ year old purse made of leather, It only has like 3 scratches here and there :) Also, did you know that we use EVERY single part of the pork? Nothing goes to waste :D
Except 30+% of the food that is wasted in western societies.
Load More Replies...Yes, much of the vegan leather is currently made from plastic, but certainly not all. New advances are being made in clothing materials made from pineapple skin, cacti, etc. This "article" decries hemp, but how hard would it really be to wear multiple layers of hemp? You really think you couldn't keep warm? And what is a little discomfort to a human being compared to the torture and murder many animals are forced into under capitalistic human wants. There is definitely a problem with plastic pollution, but there are pollution problems from animal industries too which this "article" completely ignores. How many of these people that care about plastic pollution are doing the big changes to stop pollution like not having children, etc.? Are they willing to at least go vegan a few days a week to help stop climate change? I doubt it. This post is just straw-manning (because not all vegans are saying don't reuse animal products that already there) , vegan bashing, and spin.
Do NOT buy any leather items or fur items if country origin is China. They use dog skins to make "leather purses" leather coats, fur trimming, etc. My vet told me this. He had a purse that someone gave his wife that was suspiciously soft and very weak tested. Testing came back "canine."
Plastic is made from oil, which comes from dinosaurs 🦖 🦕 Still animals, just dead for a longer time.
Anna, the dinosaurs were long, long dead by natural processes. Humans didn't torture and murder dinosaurs. Veganism is about reducing harm caused by humans.
Load More Replies...Wearing fur for decoration is just a no go. I can't believe how much decorative fur I am seeing - I thought we banned that s**t decades ago. I went on protest marches in the frigging 80s against this s**t and now it's back. >.< BUT wearing fur in icy climates is simply not up for discussion. Neither is hunting or keeping animals for food in areas with no alternatives. It is also absurd to protest lifestyles we don't agree with in far away places. There is usually plenty of things to change right where we live - focus on that.
Not to mention cotton is only veg*n if it is handpicked, and if it’s handpicked it’s almost certainly done by someone who is exploited.
I agree with most of this article. However, re/ the whole vegan leather thing... plastic isn't really the only option! https://www.greenmatters.com/p/vegan-cactus-leather-desserto
"How dare you educate us! How dare you imply we are not better than the unwashed heathens?"
Load More Replies...Are you just making this claim or do you have evidence. I and all the vegans I know ARE concerned with how our (and your) decisions impact the ethical long term effects on the planet. Have you looked into what animal agriculture does to the planet? Did you know that cattle farming is one of the driving factors of the Amazon's deforestation? We do care and we are trying to do everything we can while at the same time trying to help other animals by simply not killing and eating them.
Load More Replies...Vegan "leather" is created using far more, and more in quantity, toxic chemicals than are used in good quality leather processing. Fast fashion is part of the issue. 100 good leather garments is not as polluting as 10000 plastic fake ones. People who think they are doing good by purchasing "vegan leather" are pitiful, ignorant, and vain.
Load More Replies...I think your comment is a bit of a stretch but yeah, this post is really simplistic. Taking screenshots of tumblr posts only works when it's something lighthearted and not a whole complex issue.
Load More Replies...Can't comments like this just be deleted? Avoiding cruelty is not a trend, it's a principle. Not only not respecting that, but explicitly trying to talk it down is the lowest of the low.
Load More Replies...I am vegan and I love being one but the community sucks. Fur farms can be disturbing af (friggin documentaries scarred me) BUT thrift stores and Indigenous furriers are both great sources! As for eating meat and animal products, it comes down to what you hold important through researching the subject. Turning a blind eye is the worst thing you can do here.
Veganism is a privilege and classist lifestyle. If you live where the growing season is very short and the cost.of transportation makes a head of lettuce cost $20 then you don't have the luxury of being vegan. Particularly in northern Canada and Alaska...places where they have to wear animal products in winter to survive. ... veganism is a lifestyle choice that should be no more pushed on to others as religion, sexual orientation or what have you. Being close minded is the worst you can do here.
Load More Replies...1) Search 'Shrek the sheep' if you think sheep don't need to be sheared. 2) If you eat meat, the most ethical thing to do is to use all of the animal you can. Fur and leather included. If you live in the arctic, and you are indigenous, chances are you rely, at least partially, on subsistance hunting to feed yourself through the winter, because imported food is often very expensive. 3) Not all vegan alternatives are ethically sourced. Often the raw materials are extracted in environmentally harmful ways, and byproducts and refuse are pollutants damaging to the environment. 4) All consumption causes some level of environmental damage. Plant based products included. Think about the habitat destruction, pesticide and fertilizer pollution, processing costs (building factories, powering them, byproducts), transport, waste disposal. The ethical thing to do is to consume less. Reusing and repurposing vintage materials is a great way to do that.
Thank you! I live in italy and we have a lot of good quality leather. No one is fussing about it. You know why? Because people know where leather comes from, if you have to kill an animal for it, why don't you use every part? We eat a lot of animal parts other people do not eat, like the internal organs of cows, sheeps and so on. And guess what? They are good!
Load More Replies...They are making some very good points. The only people who've ever said to me that my fur clothings were unethical were people living in areas where the coldest temperature you can get in winter is like -2°C. I'm sorry, if it's going to be -20°C where I live, I'll be wearing a fur coat and a felt chapka, not some cheap plastic stuff that'll just get wet and give me a cold.
It probably has a lot to do with wearing fur as a fashion product, like whole fox around your neck when you actually don't need it, just have money for it and brag about it, but a lot of these people fighting against it might have forgotten about those who truly need and prefer it, in terms of weather conditions.
Load More Replies...I will say: this sounds a bit like a fake argument. I'm an omnivore, and I do use leather and wool, but there really are good arguments for veganism (both health and environmental). I think the real trap comes from black & white thinking... both sides show different and thoughtful tactics that work with their specific ethics. Self-righteousness may feel good, but it doesn't help any kind of discussion.
You're spot on. People seem to think that saying anything positive about vegans or veganism is bad or that it's a black and white issue when it isn't. There are so many other factors involved (the impact of raising animals, how materials are processed, shipping distance, secondhand vs new, etc). I'll also say this, I have a lot more respect for a vegan who's done their research and given the issue thought than an omnivore who hasn't thought about it at all.
Load More Replies...Another cherrypicked, one-sided, poorly researched article from the Bored Panda on veganism. It’s not the indigenous people or people who’ve been wearing the leather coat of their grandma that drives the argument against leather and fur industries. Here are some more things that article like this should had considered: 1) the material itself is only one thing to consider when we talk about environmental impact. Another one is the amount of resources needed for its production. And items made of plastic need very little in comparison to those made of leather (think of water and farmland needed for raising the animals, methane and waste production, the chemicals used in tanning). This is an uncomfortable truth but, for example, reusing plastic bags is more environmentally friendly than switching to single-usable ones from recycled paper. Yes, there is problem about plastic recycling, more on that below.
4) This article seriously downplays the environmental impact and cruelty of modern leather and fur industries. Indigenous people doing the thing they’ve been doing for centuries is a very small part of this (and rather non-problematic part). Millions of minks culled in Denmark? Forced children labour with toxic chemicals in tanneries in India? These are just a few examples. And, unfortunately, typically animals raised for leather are not the same than those raised for meat. Mostly because it’s more convenient for the big industries this way, but, in some cases, also for purely aesthetic reasons (for example, the softest and most exclusive leather can be obtained from calves before they are born; thus, pregnant cows are slaughtered for the purpose).
Load More Replies...I'm not sure how the leather industry sources materials but when they butcher cattle (and other proteins) for meat the skin is supposed to be used somehow right? You don't cook it, use it to make leather otherwise it goes to waste. However the process of making leather is also toxic and polluting, maybe we should focus on improving that?
I have shoes made of pineapple leather, those are vegan and not plastic. Maybe look beyond what you know and learn before spreading this one-sided article.
I think this article falls for the fallacy of over simplification. Vegan sources for apparel may be unsustainable plastic, but it may be sources such as also heavily used by indigenous people. Hemp fiber is one such example. Most (that is, 99%) animal sources such as leather are not romantically produced by tribes who wear one piece for 30 years but come from nasty factory farms (which anyone with a remaining empathy for living things will condemn) and are quickly disposed off. Thus, veganism is not the way to save the planet. Sustainable and ethical sourcing is - and admittedly this includes significant reductions in the consumption of animal-based products. The latter is not ideology but a fact.
Isn't this, as usual, a false dichotomy? If you buy what you need and buy responsibly then you are protecting the planet and ultimately protecting the animals on it. Good idea to reuse and repurpose. Although there ARE alternatives to fur for extreme cold, buying old fur and repurposing is cheaper and ethically responsible. There should be no real argument here, looks like someone has engineered one for our 'amusement'?
Exactly. People are trying to simplify an issue that is way more complex than just "fur vs faux fur"
Load More Replies...I am vegan-ish primarily for environmental reasons. Veganism is all well and good, but it just won't work for everyone. Some people have specific dietary needs. Some people, like the ones above, live in sub-arctic regions where hemp and plastic aren't going to protect them. But, just like any group of people, there is always the loud, obnoxious, criminally ignorant group who want to tell everyone else why their ideology is superior. Personally, I don't have a problem with people in the far north who wear animal products. I have a problem with commercial furriers. I don't actually have a moral objection to eating meat. I have a huge moral objection to commercial farms (holy mother of God they are the stuff of nightmares on a number of levels). There is a conversation to be had, but Starshine Crystal Worshipper isn't going to move that conversation forward with her self-righteous, fist-shaking shouts of outrage. It's going to take regular folks sitting down and listening to one another.
its more cruel to not shear a sheep..... If you don't shear your sheep it will attract bugs, causes overheating, and urine and feces will get trapped in the wool. I mean really..... just look it up!
Thats cause people bred sheep so they have lots of wool = $$. But there are also sheep in nature, that dont need shaving. So if people did not meddle with sheep they do not need shaving.
Load More Replies...Nothing riles me more than the term 'Vegan Leather', especially if I'm filtering products to select 'Leather' and the results are full of plastic PU Leather options.
Flystrike IS horrific....no one would want an animal to suffer that...
Having worked with sheep, they kinda need sheering, or they end up an absolute mess of fluff lol. Brother and his gf are vegan yet both wear leather and buy fur (from charity shops and used places) it last ages so to throw away what's already made is a complete waste
This feels a lot like the electric car discussion. A whole lot of electricity (over 60% in the USA) is created by burning coal. Which emissions are the worst? Car or coal? This just shows that life is complicated and most issues cannot be solved in 140 characters or less.
You do the best you can with knowledge you've obtained and continue to obtain. That's what veganism has always been and will always be about. It's impossible at this point in time, and will be for a long time, to live 100% vegan -- any rational vegan would tell you that. The lifestyle is so unique and 'radical' because normal operations in every industry are heavily opposite of animal and/or environment friendly, as well as the large majority people everywhere being narrow-minded as hell. We have to continue to learn, modify and better ourselves and keep an open mind, qualities this braindead article severely lack. The more we expose the harmful norms of our societies, the more we can improve the world for all. Veganism is only 'radical' because we've been conditioned to accept animal exploitation as normal and necessary. Vegans fight back against this falsehood with their everyday choices and purchases, and it's super easy. I've been doing so for years, and I've never felt, looked, performed better and I'm saving money.
Load More Replies...Some bright spark is making leather from cactus fibres which is pretty awesome, but I’m happy to wear a second hand fur or leather coat. Plus faux leathers peel and shed everywhere after a while, and it’s annoying.
Well, let's not pretend that raising animals is more ecological than producing plastic. Cows produce more greenhouse gasses than all the cars on the planet. The choice between leather and fake leather is a choice between plague and cholera.
Vegan "leather" is made from some very nasty chemicals, and pollutes the environment far more than leather tanning and processing. And why is it bad to honor an animal that died before I was born? What gives you the right to disrespect that animal - and my property - by throwing paint on it? I am not able to wear fake leather due to allergies, but real leather is ok for me to wear. So lay off.
Even as a vegan, I don't think it is so bad to wear second-hand leather or fur, though I find it disgusting. That said, I do object to the idea that you are 'respecting' the animal by doing so. This is an animal that didn't want to die, that was abused and used his/her whole life was killed by the people who claim that they 'protect' and 'love' their animals. You wear a victim's skin, that is not respect. Would it be respectful to kill your dog and wear their skin as your own?
Load More Replies...Yeah, vegan is plastic and plastic only. Not worth my time. The usual vegan-bashing nonsense you find at BP - seems some of the contributors might have an issue they should sort out.
So this is okay, but when there is a rescue topic on BoredPanda everybody is so happy that the fox (or whatever animal) is saved from the fur factory.
https://www.boredpanda.com/fox-rescued-from-fur-farm-stien-van-der-ploeg/
Load More Replies...The problem is with the majority who've never lived even close to Arctic/Subarctic etc. conditions yet crave furs to show off. Same with the hunting thing. People who've never had anything heavier than the wallet or a cocktail in their hands....
Sensitive subject. But I have to add that, although I'm not vegan, I think fur farms should not exist. It's exploitation. I know of someone whoe keeps grey foxes for that reason, in cages outside, then they are killed just for their fur. And think about the present case of minks in Denmark. We sometimes are pathetic beings.
I live where it sometimes gets as low as -40 in winter (not including wind chill) and I've never owned a fur coat. Goose down, yes. I also have polyester and fleece garments that are nearly 30 years old and still good. No, I'm not a vegan, but it's simply not true that you can *only* stay warm in severe temperatures with wool and fur. Wool makes me itch now matter what kind it is, so synthetics have been a real lifesaver for me.
This whole discussion is so funny, especially as people take it so seriously... Please respect people's choices and shut the fvck up
You’re going out in the snow in fuzzy high heels? Also don’t forget that a lot of non-animal foods are harvested with the help of what is essentially slave labor. Exploited migrant workers? Children being forced into working for like a penny, or whatever? They don’t do that to slaughter local cattle, though. (And yeah obviously not all fruit and veg products are the result of what’s nearly slave labor)
Who on earth mentioned fuzzy high heels, apart from u? Are u meaning the image of the person modelling the OPs favourite indigenous designer, perhaps?
Load More Replies...I'm against fur farms- animals Are kept in terrible conditions, sick And filthy in small cages, And once the fur Is aquired, the rest of the animal goes to waiste. It's terrible practice. But- if cow lives on open field and gets humanly slaughtered for meat, i see zero issues with using it's skin to make clothes or shoes. At least nothing goes to waiste...
Trust me when I say that a sheep getting shorn doesn't hurt them at all. They just whine like little babies. They hop right up, indignant and run off to go eat. And they feel so much better with the wool off. My Shetlands HAVE to be sheared every year. That is for their health. Their wool keeps me and my family warm. The lambs pay for the feed. They have hilarious personalities. One loves to play tag and eat tortilla chips.
in many years from now, people will find it so cruel to wear somebody else's skin.
Another thing that wasn't mentioned in the messages but is a sad and disturbing fact: researchers are finding that when synthetics such a polar fleece are washed, tiny fibers are washed into the water supply. The wastewater may go to a water treatment plant but the fibers float above the filters and are dumped back in the environment and back into our drinking water. I wear a lot of polar fleece. I'm rethinking that these days.
I would love to see how many of these so called humans would skin and butcher a cat, dog, fox, etc...for a f*****g fur coat! Fur looks better on the animals not humans! And yes cat and dog are butchered for their fur for trinkets made all over the place. Using fake names as rabbit. They are butchered for meat and fur coats! They are stolen pets and or strays. Fur farms are nothing but cash grabs. These souls have feelings and suffer tremendous amounts of pain to be skinned alive for f*****g profit.
My immediate resource in discussions like this is www.honeyrockdawn.com, the farm blog of Shreve Stockton. She raises cattle for milk and meat, and practices it humanely, and blogs about it. I suggest everyone check it out. Consumption of animal products are NOT the problem here; factory farms, fur farms, sport hunting, trophy hunting, and the immense waste that comes from capitalism and big box stores. Additionally, vegetable proteins and animal proteins are not the same thing, and some people simply can't tolerate one or the other for health reasons. AND veganism isn't sustainable in many parts of the world. Desert? You only have very specific crops, not very many of them, and largely it's much easier to get your calories from chicken, goat, etc. Arctic? You need lots of fat and solid protein to help your body stay warm, and for clothing the best option is what all the wildlife uses. Veganism is absolutely both classist AND a personal choice.
I hear it takes 3 sheep to make a sweater... Hell I didn't even know sheep could knit! Wool is actually a renewable resource. Well... until they pass on but still... more sheep to take their places. And yes, shearing is a necessity for the animal. What happens if you don't isn't very pretty.
All I want to say is that there is no place on this earth where micro plastics are not found. From the deepest ocean to the highest mountain. We are literally eating micro plastics every day. It sickens me to think of it.
I'm not a vegan, but have been a vegetarian for over 30 years. I don't have a problem with anyone wearing fur coats - as long as they are vintage. As for wool, sheep need to be shorn. Leather is tricky for me...I wish I knew if the leather was from an animal that was used for something other than its hide..like Native Americans and Indigenous people, if the animal is killed, the sentient animal is used for meat and clothing. I will never accept/condone fur farms.
I am not really into fur of certain animals. But the cow leather I think is great because we can take advantage of a lot of things from the same animal! My country is mainly livestock and we get all the milk derived products, the meat and also de leather from cows. There's no waist!!
maybe choose what side you want ( or mix both) according to the environment you live and work in ? Just remember that your decisions have an impact regardless of which side you choose and thus you should try to do the minimal impact( from a holistic point of view, not ideology)
This article is so one-sided. It answers "vegans" yet does not cite any vegan. Just the strawman evil preachy vegan in the mind of the anti-vegan posters. That is not up to the minimum journalistic standard of "fair and balanced" Boredpanda. You're supposed to be a european outlet, with european standards.
I was told that vegan yarn (made from plants) was better than wool yarn. First off, let me give you linen as an example. To make linen yarn, you have to soften the fiber to make it useful. The traditional method was to dig pits and have the stalks lay in water for several months. It STINKS. Then you have process the fiber and spin it. Bamboo and rayon require chemical processing to soften. None of them have insulating properties like sheep, goats and camelids.
I guess the main problem is that people go into extremes : I reject fur, because we should not put 1000's of animals in tiny cages, just to get their fur. But plastic is the other extreme and not any better... Why not make fur products of happy animals, who had space and decent food??
A lot of companies do; it's on the consumer to research the company and learn more about their practices. A number of the Indigenous companies named use fur from wild animals, instead of factory farming - and as a result each of their products is unique, due to the variations in the fur.
Load More Replies...Veganism has felt like a weird religion for a long time to me. The less animal products you consume, the more "righteous" you are. And then you harangue your friends and family to conform to your beliefs so they too, will be righteous.
The less animal products you consume, the better it is for the environment in general. If everyone continues recklessly breeding and consuming there won't be future generations of humans and many species of animals. Some vegans may be righteous, but in general they are rightfully so. Maybe that feeling of uncomfort when vegans confront you is something you should seriously consider. Maybe a part of you knows you are doing something very evil by killing and torturing innocent animals for food. Maybe watch some documentaries about the factory farming industry if you care about the truth, but I doubt you do, truth monster.
Load More Replies...I`m thinking the same way. When I buy clothes I want it to last. I have bought once eco leather trousers and jacket, and they fell apart very quicly. When I buy good leather boots, I can wear them for 10 years, in that time I will toss at least 10 pair of eco/ vegan/ plastic shoes in garbage. I have also leather jackets and coats that are 30-40 years old. If I can wear them, I can make bags or something else from them. So my opinion is that leather and fur are more eco friendly than eco/ vegan leather. Animals are killed either way for food, so why not used all the resources.
It puzzles me how Americans can pretend to be vegan or vegetarian when nearly every one of them will go out and shoot innocent animals because if "sport" and for no other reason
There's one other thing that baffles me about vegan "ethics". It's how hypocritically selective it is in protecting only certain life forms. Whenever i ask that, i get flustered reaction "Whaaaat? How dare you compare vegetable (flower/tree/whatever) to a cow?!" But it is we who grant ourselves the moral right to judge which life forms are worthy. It can't possibly get more subjective than that. Long time ago there were "scientific" studies that animals don't have intelligence and do not feel the pain. It's simple. It was there to justify hunting. We are moving away from that. But now it's plants that are dumb and therefore can be killed and eaten guilt free. Unless you are a fruitarian...
holy s**t.. finally someone with a brain. vegans are f*****g awful
I agree with this! I was born and grew up in the Urals in Russia - in winter it easily reaches -40C. Fur or down coats, fur or felted wool boots are a must. And yes, they can be used for years and years. My mom bought a fur coat about 40 years ago. She wore it, then I wore it (and would wear it still if I had not gained so much damn weight!) and it is still in a great condition, so my daughter can wear it, too.
It's the industrialisation of animal keeping that is the main focus for vegans, not that indigenous people use seal furs in winter, or a polar bear fur! There's a serious difference! Minks in tiny wire cages without any hay to snuggle in, just to give a rich f**k a status fur??? THAT'S what vegans argue about! Not people livng above the polar circle, where temperatures goes down real low! It seems like you just want to bash vegans and call us dumb, that we are not aware of what is going on, but trust me - we know more than the average person about how animals suffer in industries for beef, milk an dairy, egg and poultry, pigs and fur animals. That is the reason why I stopped eating meat, dairy, eggs and fish, and stopped wearing fur and leather. Did you know that the down jackets that rich people like to wear are stuffed with down and feathers from birds that are alive when they're plucked?? Yes, and they are alive so they can get plucked more than once!
So all of you that have argued your cases and those that came to vent, where are your awards please... Cos none of you succeeded in convincing the other. Bottom line is those who claim to be vegan will continue to live their lives and those that are not will not die because they aren't... And the earth will continue to revolve and rotate and nothing will matter at the end
Gosh, you are stupid. Then how did the vegans become vegan? Someone convinced them because the arguments are convincing. Go watching some documentaries about the factory farming industry. That tends to make a lot of vegans. Animals are very cruelly raised, tortured, and murdered. It's not ok. It will make any caring human being sick with grief. There are also no good arguments to eat meat when the alternatives are available to you. It comes down to wants vs. needs. You may want the taste of meat, but the animals need and deserve their lives (especially torture free).
Load More Replies...And don't forget about the rainforests being cut down to plant soybean plants...
Simple solution leave the animals the f**k alone and recycle the dead especially fat Americans who would make a lot of leather
I have a 30+ year old purse made of leather, It only has like 3 scratches here and there :) Also, did you know that we use EVERY single part of the pork? Nothing goes to waste :D
Except 30+% of the food that is wasted in western societies.
Load More Replies...Yes, much of the vegan leather is currently made from plastic, but certainly not all. New advances are being made in clothing materials made from pineapple skin, cacti, etc. This "article" decries hemp, but how hard would it really be to wear multiple layers of hemp? You really think you couldn't keep warm? And what is a little discomfort to a human being compared to the torture and murder many animals are forced into under capitalistic human wants. There is definitely a problem with plastic pollution, but there are pollution problems from animal industries too which this "article" completely ignores. How many of these people that care about plastic pollution are doing the big changes to stop pollution like not having children, etc.? Are they willing to at least go vegan a few days a week to help stop climate change? I doubt it. This post is just straw-manning (because not all vegans are saying don't reuse animal products that already there) , vegan bashing, and spin.
Do NOT buy any leather items or fur items if country origin is China. They use dog skins to make "leather purses" leather coats, fur trimming, etc. My vet told me this. He had a purse that someone gave his wife that was suspiciously soft and very weak tested. Testing came back "canine."
Plastic is made from oil, which comes from dinosaurs 🦖 🦕 Still animals, just dead for a longer time.
Anna, the dinosaurs were long, long dead by natural processes. Humans didn't torture and murder dinosaurs. Veganism is about reducing harm caused by humans.
Load More Replies...Wearing fur for decoration is just a no go. I can't believe how much decorative fur I am seeing - I thought we banned that s**t decades ago. I went on protest marches in the frigging 80s against this s**t and now it's back. >.< BUT wearing fur in icy climates is simply not up for discussion. Neither is hunting or keeping animals for food in areas with no alternatives. It is also absurd to protest lifestyles we don't agree with in far away places. There is usually plenty of things to change right where we live - focus on that.
Not to mention cotton is only veg*n if it is handpicked, and if it’s handpicked it’s almost certainly done by someone who is exploited.
I agree with most of this article. However, re/ the whole vegan leather thing... plastic isn't really the only option! https://www.greenmatters.com/p/vegan-cactus-leather-desserto
"How dare you educate us! How dare you imply we are not better than the unwashed heathens?"
Load More Replies...Are you just making this claim or do you have evidence. I and all the vegans I know ARE concerned with how our (and your) decisions impact the ethical long term effects on the planet. Have you looked into what animal agriculture does to the planet? Did you know that cattle farming is one of the driving factors of the Amazon's deforestation? We do care and we are trying to do everything we can while at the same time trying to help other animals by simply not killing and eating them.
Load More Replies...Vegan "leather" is created using far more, and more in quantity, toxic chemicals than are used in good quality leather processing. Fast fashion is part of the issue. 100 good leather garments is not as polluting as 10000 plastic fake ones. People who think they are doing good by purchasing "vegan leather" are pitiful, ignorant, and vain.
Load More Replies...I think your comment is a bit of a stretch but yeah, this post is really simplistic. Taking screenshots of tumblr posts only works when it's something lighthearted and not a whole complex issue.
Load More Replies...Can't comments like this just be deleted? Avoiding cruelty is not a trend, it's a principle. Not only not respecting that, but explicitly trying to talk it down is the lowest of the low.
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