swaybe:

I have a vegan-related question.

I just found an old fossil purse that I bought a few months before I went vegan. I really love it but it’s leather so like…is it okay for me to use it? I feel hypocritical but like…it’s better than putting it to waste, right?

I faced this question a lot because I had various leather things in my life. I still use some of my guitar straps that have leather ends, most of which I’ve had since I was a teenager. I’ve slowly been purchasing vegan-friendly guitar straps from Couch (the best) to replace them all, but it’s not really that cheap so I still have a few with leather. (The reason I have multiple straps is that I keep one on each guitar I have; I tried once to use just one strap for all my guitars, but I found that when it was time to go to a gig I couldn’t ever remember where the strap was and it took a lot of unnecessary time to find it and it was a big unnecessary headache, so every guitar has its own right now.)

I also have this tool pouch that I wear everyday which came with a pocket-knife I was given on my 10th birthday. I have to carry this Leatherman (good name!) tool around for my job and I’ve gone through about six nylon pouches and they always break. This leather one has been good for years of use. If there were any faux-leather/vinyl or even nylon tool pouches like this with strong stitching, you can bet I would be using one of those, but all of the nylon ones are so shittily made that they fall apart after a few weeks of wear. As you can imagine, there isn’t a large and varied market for tool pouches.*****

Until fairly recently I had had a leather wallet for the longest time and I finally was able to replace it with a nice vegan wallet, also from Couch. Let me tell you, finally replacing that leather wallet made me feel so much better.

That’s why I am making an effort to get rid of all the leather things I have. Every one of these pieces of leather in my life is a drain on my psyche. I know what it is and I am not comfortable with that; it’s like wearing or using the skin of my best friend. I will be so glad when it’s all gone and I can be free of that feeling. I would advise you to not use that purse. You’ll find that you spend a lot of mental energy trying to justify your use of it (like me in the first two paragraphs of this answer), and if you use it just because you like it you may find that what you’re really doing is just perpetuating the idea that animal bodies are ours to use and exploit.

Also, for the longest time as a “vegan” I was ignorant and willing to believe the myth that leather is just an innocent by-product of the meat industry and we might as well use it as long as it’s there, but then I found out that leather and other by-products are really the only reason that the meat industry is profitable (and I realized that it’s no worse than wearing fur) and that changed my attitude towards it considerably, and in such a fashion that I couldn’t believe I had previously accepted that logic.

Hope any of this rambling about myself helped you in some way. Good luck.

****edit: since writing this I went to the Army Navy store by my house and asked the guy to help me; we found a pistol magazine pouch that actually fits the bill perfectly and has mil-spec nylon and thick stitching. I’m really glad!!!