You don't have to order online to get non-leather
shoes. Most discount shoe stores (like Payless) offer a wide
variety of non-leather shoes, though they're likely to be made with
sweatshop labor. But an advantage of going mail-order is that many
retailers carry non-sweatshop-made products. Here are the vegan shoe
and belt retailers we were able to find.
Those looking for non-leather, non-sweatshop running shoes have only a few choices:
Some of New Balance's running shoes are non-leather, and some (25%)
of their shoes sold in the U.S. are made in the U.S.
Whether they're leather or nonleather isn't marked on the shoe, and
they don't bother to
list it on their website either; you have to call New
Balance (800-253-7463) to inquire about which models are currently
non-leather. The shoes made in the U.S. are marked on the
shoe. New Balance warns that their nonleather shoes aren't
necessarily vegan, since the glue du juor may contain animal
ingredients. I encourage consumers not to get too hung up on
that, since all "vegan" products include some animal deaths somewhere
along the lines too. (For example, how much habitat was destroyed
to extract, ship, refine, and reship the petroleum used in nonleather
shoes?)
At Zappo's
you can enter "made in USA" into the search box, and tick "Vegan" in
the filtering box. Note that doesn't show any New Balance shoes,
probably because New Balance is up front that their glues might have
animal products. Probably the other manufacturers use
animal-ingredient glues also, but if they're not up front about it then
they get listed at Zappos while New Balance doesn't.
Hersey
is a custom shoe-crafter which makes shoes by hand according to the
tracing you send them. Be prepared to spend at least $210 for
your first pair (though your shoes can be "serviced" for much cheaper
later on). Make sure to specify non-leather if that's what you
want. I own a pair of these myself.
List of
"Cruelty-free" products
The best guide to
products not tested on animals is "Personal Care for People Who Care",
published
by the National Anti-Vivisection Society (2005). This volume
clearly describes which cosmetic and household products are tested on
animals and which aren't. (Order a copy, ~$4.00 inc. shipping.)
Lucky Vitamin.
Not all their products are vegetarian, but just put "vegetarian" in the
search box to find them. Their prices are a fair bit lower than
Vegetarian Vitamin.
And while we're on the subject, lots of vitamins
contain non-vegetarian ingredients. For example, Stearic acid, a
common ingredient of tablets, is usually from an animal source.
Capsules are usually made from gelatin, which comes from tendons and
ligaments. And even when you buy a product labeled "Vegetarian
Capsules", the "vegetarian" usually refers only to the capsule material
itself, and not the contents of the capsule! (The two manufacturers I contacted, Solaray and Thorne, confirmed that "vegetarian"
refers only to the capsule material and not what's inside the
capsule. Go figure.)
