My Non Leather Life T-Shirts and Visions of a Vegan Lifestyle Brand

A dream I have is to have my own vegan lifestyle brand. A la Martha Stewart.

Of course, everything would be animal cruelty free. There would be no leather, wool, suede, rich calfskin linings, fur trimmings etc. Everything would be fake.

One thing I love is the aesthetics of different companies. Some companies want to be all high fashion, and others are inspired by things like old movies.

Some companies are loud and proudly vegan, preferring to shout the truth about what is happening to animals from the rooftops (OlsenHaus comes to mind). Others prefer to simply present a non leather option with a more subtle animal rights message (Good Guys Don’t Wear Leather comes to mind).

What would my imagined company do? I think I would try to make a brand centered around the fabulous lifestyle of the most well equipped vegan ever–by that I mean, a vegan who never needs to hunt on the internet for cool shoes and what not. Oh no, she has it all already. She has every non leather item you could ever want.

What kind of girl is she? She is a very old fashioned, romantic soul. She lives alone, or perhaps she is married, or perhaps she has several BEAUX, who bring her fresh flowers.

She has a vintage car, and she lives on a farm, a vegan farm though. Maybe this farm grows sprouts or micro greens. She has a big greenhouse full of tropical plants which she collects on fabulous plant hunting and preservation vacations. She has a lavish bed full of DOWN-FREE comforters and pillows. A pair of tan non leather driving gloves lies by her bed side table.

She has a closet of non leather shoes. She has a cool fake leather jacket that looks like she found it in a thrift store. She has faux leather pants for when she needs to impress say, Prince.

She has hats, many hats–but with no wool in them. She has floral couches, with no leather trim. Even her car–the seats are upholstered with faux blue leather.

She likes to fashion herself after a gibson girl, lucy honeychurch from a Room With a View,

a pre-raphelite painting. She wears a golden circlet and flowers clipped to all her shoes.

She LIVES…MY NON LEATHER LIFE.

A little fantasy for today.

Oh, and I made t-shirts!! Comment below if you would like to acquire one.

Carmen Miranda Style Vegan Floral Heels

Why do I even know who Carmen Miranda is?

Honestly, I didn’t until I wikipediaed her, but I always knew her name and what she looks like.

She was a brazilian samba singer and then film star in the forties and fifties known for her fruit hat.

I think when I was very young, there must have been some craze for dressing up like Carmen Miranda at eighties costume parties or something.

Anyway, the image lingers on in the mind.

I think I must get my love of banana earrings from her.

And I think she’s the reason why I like the following shoes so much.

I saw these shoes on a great vegan shoe blog Vegan Shoe Addict today, and wanted to share them here, cause I liked them so much.

Poetic Licence Women’s Sweet Shirley Temple Wedge Sandal

I like them in mauve and in white.

What do you think?

Are Vans Vegan? Yes, Some Are.

I googled this query about Vans last night as I need a pair of some cool walking around sneakers.

Vans are the ones I want.

I like Vans because they signal to me visions of California, which is kind of like a fantasy for me, bringing to mind the extreme cool of the documentary I recently netflix instant-watched Dogtown and Z Boys— a highly recommended, awesome movie.

Were they wearing Vans as they made up an entirely new sport, and illegally skated in empty swimming pools? Probably.

But are Vans vegan? There is a lot of controversy on the internet about this.

They look vegan, being made out of plastic and canvas, but some have an unnoticeable leather trim or are made altogether from leather, so the jury was out.

Well, I  wrote to Vans Customer Service last night to settle the matter once and for all.

They told me:

Hello Victoria,

We proudly offer the following Vegan styles through our online shop
(shop.vans.com):

Classic Authentic Canvas
Classic Slip-on Canvas
Classic Zapato Del Barco Canvas
Custom Slip-on, Era & 106 Vulcanized (the Custom Old Skool is NOT vegan)
Era “Parra” – Limited Edition
Go Green Collection (Organic Canvas Styles) – Limited Edition
Old Skool Vegan (only if it states Vegan)
Rowley “Stripes” – (Synthetic Only) – Limited Edition
Sk8-Hi (True White)

Please note, we constantly refresh our styles, and unfortunately do not
maintain any inventory for items from past seasons.  If you see something
you like we suggest buying it now since we cannot guarantee that we are
able to make more.

So now we all know.

And now:

Here are my picks for the coolest vegan vans:

classic vans authentic: $42. Comes in a wide array of colors.

Classic Authentic slipons– $42. millions of colors and patterns. but of course the classic is checkerboard.

Custom Slip-on, Era & 106 Vulcanized (the Custom Old Skool is NOT vegan). Customize your own– totally awesome!!

Go Green Collection (Organic Canvas Styles) – Limited Edition

I will be adding Vans, with a link to this post, to my article “Where To Find Cool Vegan Shoes Online” for a good place to find cool laid back sneakers!

Tell me what you think of Vans? Would you customize or go checkerboard or just plain white? And have you see Dogtown and Z Boys?

A Complete List of Vegan Shoes from Marais USA

I wrote and received this extremely informative email from Marais USA:

Greetings,

The following styles are 100% vegan:

- slingback flat
- gladiator sandal
- cross-strap flat
- flat braided sandal
- espadrille wedge
- bootie peep-toe wedge
- slingback wedge
- loafer heel
- lace-up heel
- chelsea boot
- sneakers

Most of our selection is vegan.  The only styles exempt are styles that
use either suede or silk/ satin.  Please let me know if you have any other
questions.

Best,

Natalie
Marais USA Customer Service

This is great to know! Don’t you agree? I will link to this post on my other post about Marais shoes.

It’s great to have total confirmation that so many of their shoes are really totally vegan.

Ballet Flats: Throughout History, and The Best Vegan Ones on the Market

Supposedly a ballet flat is a very important shoe to own. I personally don’t own any, but there have been many times I wished I did. The problem is there are usually never any good vegan ones.

Ballet flats are very practical. They are a flat shoe, so they’re easy to walk in, and yet also they are extremely chic. They call to mind Audrey Hepburn, Briggite Bardot, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, and other glamorous movie stars from yesteryear.

I’d like to do a post sharing some of those iconic photos of these glamorous women wearing these simple flat shoes to show everyone how a ballet flat was classically worn. I’d also like to share the perfect vegan ballet flat I’ve found, available for purchase online or at your local old navy.

These are the best looking vegan ballet flats I’ve seen. They have great reviews online too, are very inexpensive ($21.50) , and come in many colors.

available here.

And now onto our history lesson.

The first person one thinks of when one hears ballet flat is Audrey Hepburn. Why? She only wore flats, and she looked amazing.

You gotta love her! She never looks like she is trying to impress anyone in unwalkable high heels. She puts her own comfort first and foremost, while still looking amazing. How DOES she do that?

Here is some inspiration for how one can as they say in fashion magazines “get the look”! This girl is doing a fantastic job. As we learn from Hepburn, ballet flats are great to wear with capris.

Another iconic ballet flat wearer, was a laid back girl from St. Trpoez, and a hero in the animal rights movement–none other than Brigitte Bardot. Let us study some images:

She looks amazing!

My dear animal loving readers, was this post helpful to you? Do you have a better sense of how ballet flats were worn throughout history? What do you think of Ballet Flats? Do you like these Old Navy ones, or do you prefer a more embellished style? I prefer the classic look of the ballet flats worn by these old movie stars.

Vegan Chelsea Boots, and The History of Chelsea Boots

Yonder Bootie from alloy.com

Distressed faux leather upper; rubber sole

in gray and black

$52.90

These boots are known as chelsea boots. A little history lesson for you all from wikipedia:

Chelsea Boots (also known as dealer boots) are tight-fitting, ankle-high boots that originated in the Victorian era, and were originally associated with horse riding. The most notable feature of the Chelsea boot is its elastic siding, running from the heel to the top of the shoe. The design began as a type of riding boots known as paddock boots or jodhpur boots. Chelsea boots were considered an element of the 1960s mod scene, and they have recently become in fashion again amongst men as well as women. Similar boots are the heavier Australian work boots such as those made by Blundstone, which are popular in Australia.

The popular Australian Blundstone boot, known as Blundies.

A similar style was also known as Beatle Boots, since they were popularized by The Beatles, and these shoes were extremely popular with the “mod” crowd in London in the 60s.

I first learned about the Beatle Boot, and the historic importance of the Chelsea Boot in a great book I got at Urban Outfitters called Fifty Shoes That Changed the World. A surprisingly great read! You will learn all about the different types of shoes and their historic significance.

By the way, Alloy.com, a site I remembered from my youth and on a whim decided to check out again, has a surprisingly large selection of trendy “unintentionally vegan” shoes. If you are looking for a going out shoe, you will find one here. Five inch heels abound! I have added Alloy.com to my Vegan Shoe Shopping Guide at the top of my website, so feel free to check that out if you haven’t already.

Vegan Huaraches Sandals

One more shoe from Delias.com.

Rebels Harem Sandal

Man-made upper and bottom

cognac, bright multi, and gold

On sale for $34.50

buy here

Every shoe I feature on this blog, is a shoe I would personally wear and love to wear. So I always say the shoes are awesome, but I think these are awesome.

I had a hunch that these are called huaraches, so I did some googling and sure enough, they are:

Huaraches (singular huarache) are a type of Mexican sandal. Huaraches are pre-Columbian in origin, and are made from woven leather. The leather is traditionally hand-woven.^[1] The name “Huarache” is derived from the P’urhépecha language term kwarachi. Huarache directly translates into English as sandal.

From Wikipedia.

Well, I love to find classic leather shoes in non leather versions. And to own a piece of history like huaraches is cool.

So! If you are off to a tropical vacation, or if you live in the southern hemisphere–you will need these shoes. I like both colors. The rainbow ones because they are fun, and the brown ones because they look like the original.

What do you think of them? Comment below!

The Coolest Vegan Desert Boots

My sister has a pair of Desert Boots which look so great, but though I looked high and low I could never find one’s made without real suede. Well, I have found a great pair through one of my favorite fashion blogs, Lulu Letty.

The original desert Boots were made by Clarks and are modeled after boots soldiers wore while trekking through the desert in World War II. They are now a preppy menswear staple but I think they look amazing on girls as well. They are the perfect every day boot to wear,  since they are made of a suede like fabric and have a thin usually rubber sole–they are almost like a moccasin–extremely comfortable too.

Well here they are, from the new-to-me online store Spotted Moth.

Through the Woods Desert boots

Through the Woods Boot

$ 34.99

All man-made materials

Buy here at Spottedmoth.com

And here is how Traditional preppy clothes and menswear loving Lulu Letty styled these shoes:

 

 

Well, I consider this a job well done. I have found you all a desert boot. Thank me in the comments  ; )

 

Doc Martens for Vegans

Mooshoes.com (buy here)

by novacas (built by kindness)

in black and brown

$165

These are like Doc Martens for vegans. Very cool.

Doc Martens were very popular in the 90s, and even produced a line of vegan doc martens as I learned in the wikipedia entry.

Here are original Doc Martens for comparison:

Here is another of my favorite fashion bloggers Tavi of Style Rookie in her floral Doc Martens:

Two Vintage-y Vegan Shoes for Every Day Wear

$48

Kimchi Blue Wingtip Heel

* Polyurethane, synthetic sole

Urbanoutfitters.com

$48

Kimchi Blue T-Strap Heel

* Polyurethane, synthetic sole

Comes in brown, red and black

urbanoutfitters.com

These two heels have five star ratings on urbanoutfitters.com. They are great looking in person–I’ve seen them in the stores. I like their vintage look–very Mad Men.

Good shoes!

What do you think of them? Yay or nay?

I’d love to hear from you!!

-Victoria