My husband and I are in Boston this week, so I’ve decided to repost some oldie but goodie posts while I’m away. I look forward to catching up with everyone when I get home. Have a beautiful week!
Vanity or Life?
I’ve been putting off buying shoes afraid that I’d be seduced into buying at least one pair of leather beauties. With the warm weather we’ve been having and my sister-in-law visiting from Boston next week, however; had to get a new pair of sandals. I’m too vain to wear last year’s dog-chewed pair.
As much as I love shoes, I hate shopping for them. It’s hard to find those that fit my three C’s: cheap, comfortable and cute. This is especially challenging since I’ve got gargantuan size 11 feet and most shoe stores don’t carry much past size 10.
Although I’m writing this vegan blog, I’ll be honest; I was planning to buy leather shoes. I thought it would be too hard to find non-leather sandals that fit my three C’s. I’d even convinced myself that this was no big deal.
Then I read a comment from one of my readers who told me that leather was her vice of choice until she met a gorgeous steer at the Farm Sanctuary outside of Los Angeles. She wrote how this beautiful creature came right up to her and licked her hand as if he were a friendly dog.
This struck me and I realized that my conscience wouldn’t be clear if I bought leather. With thoughts of a friendly steer vivid in my mind, I went to Off Broadway Shoes last night. To my amazement, I found a pair of shoes on the clearance rack that not only fit my three C’s, but that were also made of fabric.
I’d hit the jackpot! Or so I thought until I realized that despite being mostly fabric, the shoe’s sole was leather. I purchased the shoes anyway. I don’t feel good about it, but I rationalized that at least they had less leather than most shoes.
I’ve made a promise to myself, however; to buy vegan shoes from now on. It just seems to me that a cow’s life is more important than my vanity.
If you’re searching for leather-free shoes, check out Jean’s post, Leather-free Shoes.
Image courtesy of Vlado / http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
Honk If You're Vegan 
I usually get 90% of my shoes at Payless, they are cute, they are cheap especially when they have the buy one get one half off and they have lots of shoes that are man-made fabric and really nice fauz leather including the soles. I am a shoe whore!!!! I have the most sexy shoes in my closet. They carry size 11 in the stores but if you go online you can definitely find your size. And if chose store pick-up you don’t have to pay shipping.
Hi Ivonne! I used to go to Payless, but I haven’t been for a long time. They do have size 11’s there, but usually not too many, but going online is a great idea! That way I can find the styles I like. So you’re a shoe whore – ha! I bet you have much cuter feet than I do chica!! Celeste 🙂
Lol, I used to be a shoe model…..
A shoe model – how cool is that!! Celeste 🙂
Love your blog, and I too have thought much about this. Check out foranima.com they are an all vegan site with lots of resources. One request for you, can u use he or she when referring to any animal instead of it? This is so ingrained in our language but the more we don’t objectify even with simple words, the more we move forward in reaching others. Hope you don’t mind my asking, it is in your sentence referring to the steer acting like a friendly dog.
Lovely to hear from you chica! I will check out foranima.com for sure – thanks for the tip! And I appreciate that you pointed out that I referred to an animal as “it”. I agree with you, that this is one of the ways that our society objectifies animals. This is a reblog of one of my early posts when I was first transitioning to veganism, and I’ve become more aware of my language since then and have started referring to animals as he or she. Still, I reread this post before I posted it and I didn’t pick that up. So, I appreciate that you did! Thanks for all your support – I appreciate it. Celeste 🙂
Thanks for the website tip.. 🙂
Lulus has TONS of cheap, cute vegan shoes! http://www.lulus.com/categories/179_257/vegan-shoes.html
Thanks Lisa – I’ll check Lulus out!! Celeste 🙂
yay another website for vegan shoes, this is going to be a problem for my credit card!! 🙂
Also, if you’re ever in Boston again, check out a fabulous vegan shoes store in Cambridge (the next town over) called Sudo Shoes (www.sudoshoes.com). Their website doesn’t tell you anything other than their address, but their shoe choices are great! Plus, it’s fun to be in a store where you know everything is cruelty-free 🙂
Hey Ginger! Thanks so much for your comment!! My husband and I go to Boston twice a year to visit his family. We often hit Cambridge while we’re there (we love eating at Life Alive!). Thanks for the tip about Sudo Shoes – I’ll check it out when we’re out again in April.
Oh, how fun, Celeste. You’re in for a treat with Sudo Shoes. And, if you can swing by Newton, there’s a new restaurant there called ‘Walnut Grille.’ Very yummy!
Our favorite thing to do while we’re out there is to discover new restaurants. We’ll check out Walnut Grill on our next trip for sure!! Thanks so much! Celeste 🙂