If I become vegan do I have to get rid of all my previous clothing...

When I become vegan do I have to get rid of all my previous clothing? I mean I will stop buying animal products now, but wouldn't it be worse getting rid of it? Idk, how many items of clothing tht I have that aren't considered vegan. I don't buy fur, I don't think I have any leather, maybe one purse. Help?

You don't "have" to do anything ... so just go with your instincts. I agree with you that it'd be worse to just get rid of stuff. If you really don't feel comfortable having non-vegan things you could give them to charity shops or friends/family or whatev ... that way they wouldn't be going to waste. Otherwise, it's probably better to "see them out". I've been vegan for almost two years and still have a pair of suede boots and a woolen coat that I've had for years. Ha, ha. My opinion, anyway!

Yeah plus trying to replace all of your clothes could be pretty costly.

As my good friend the vegan says "It's all ready dead" (so you might as well use it). It's up to you to decide, though...

hgielrehtaeh, your friend doesn't seem like they have such a great approach towards veganism. that statement could be used to justify eating meat as a vegan, buying leather, fur, etc.

bl0nde123, making the switch to living as a vegan is a lifestyle change, so the way i look at it, change what you buy from now on... the stuff you already have is from your past lifestyle and there's nothing wrong with keeping it.

Sorry my friend isn't hardcore vegan enough for you, kindoflikesarah. I guess it's a good thing he doesn't really care what other people think.

When I became a vegetarian, I asked him if I should throw out my meat and leather. That was his response. It's all ready dead. It doesn't mean I should keep buying stuff, but if the animal is dead, why not use it instead of letting it go to waste...

I'm not vegan - I'm vegetarian - but I don't buy animal products either.  Before I became a vegetarian, I had bought a leather sofa set.  It's still brand new and I still haven't paid for it.  While I would not buy that same sofa set again, I'm not going to throw it out either.  I agree with whoever it was that said it's from your past lifestyle, so there is no harm in keeping it - the harm is in continuing the pattern.

where did i ever say he "wasn't vegan enough", i only said that it's a pretty bad attitude and i explained why i think so. chill out! :)

Well, what he says makes sense: don't waste. If it's already there, don't further ruin the planet. You're taking it out of context, kindoflikesarah.

*shrug* maybe i was, there is still no need to get snippy, though... right?

it seems that her friend and i would agree then, because that was pretty much my advice in my first post on this thread.

Yeah, you darn passionate animal-loving, planet-saving, making-changes girl!!! ; ) Hugs.

everyone has their own feelings and opinions about such things. if you feel strongly about no animal products, start fresh. if you don't mind keeping them around, keep them. if we tried doing everything "right" and perfectly in this world, we would all become like pod people. choose whatever battles you feel you can and want to handle, and don't worry about what anyone has to say about it.

If you have the means to replace everything and that's what you're most comfortable with, go for it. But I still have some non-vegan clothes and shoes because the harm is already done and i'm too poor to replace every last thing. However, this does not mean that once these things are worn out, that i'll replace them with more non-vegan items. When things wear out I replace them with vegan alternatives. 

It does depend on how far you want to take it. I gave away a few pairs of leather shoes and a jacket I got as a gift. I don't wear wool or silk either, but it's a personal preference, it's whatever you feel comfortable with. At the end of the day, all that matters is how you feel. With every product in the entire world out there that uses an animal product in some way, it's virtually impossible to never come into contact with something. You are taking a step to make a difference and you should be proud.

Some people (such as myself) avoid animal products for health reasons. My leather shoes aren't raising my blood pressure. Not a popular sentiment with vegans but what can I say?

spirochete: three cheers to a health vegan! I thought I was the only one. Everyone gives me a hard time for not "doing it right", but I have trained myself to not care. Vintage furs and vintage leather "aren't raising my blood pressure", so I am not giving them up! :D

when i became vegan, i gave my leather belts and small stuff like that to my friends, but kept the £100 leather boots that i had bought like 1 month before, and the dr martens, and big things that i couldn't afford to replace, and am slowly wearing out the boots, and the dc trainers that i have which are suede... actually i have quite a few leather shoes. i'm not buying anymore, but i'm not throwing away any old stuff that i had.

Wow, I don't think I've ever heard of wool or silk being problematic. But I can see how they might be in a corporate exploitation sense. Kind of like honey?

Generally though, I agree with the overall view that you should do what you feel comfortable with. If you get creeped out every time you put on a pair of shoes than why hang on to them? And if they don't bother you than you're probably better off not consuming yet another product. 

And just to be a spelling and grammar dork..."all ready dead"???  

What do you all feel are "vegan-friendly" clothing? Anything thats not leather/suede/fur? Most of my clothes are made of cotton, is that ok? What fabric's have animal products in them?

Vegetarian here, not Vegan.  ::gets that out there::  But I am also going to admit that I am an active leather consumer.

::Waits for the gasps of disgust to die down::

I have an off the charts allergy to numerous dust mite types.  Any type of padding cloth or other soft items is always full of dust mites.  I hemmed and hawed about my choices on how I could personally combat this?  In the end, I have taken out my own sewing machine and covered my furniture with good ole fashioned cow leather.  If I was rich, things would be different but...

Before the Vegans set up a stake to burn me, here is my reasoning...  I am attempting to think of the whole planet, not just the animals today but long term.  My other alternative is to live with everything in my universe incased in plastic.

PLASTIC? Now that is flat out BAD.  Be it vinyl or common plastic sheeting, BLAH.  It is full of toxins that make me shudder.  While the curing process for leather is not great either, at least it ends up bio-degradable.  I do not want my couch cover to be hanging around in 2000 year for some archeologist to dig up. 

So I go with the... *the animal is already dead* philosophy.  I cant stop the burger consuming gluttons in this world.  ::Turns green even thinking about eating a burger::.   But if I can find a way to make their bio-waste a useful element in my world so that it is not just another bit of crud tossed into the landfills, I am going for it.  So I use leather.

My friends laughed at me recently, because the car I was in ran over the back legs of a chipmunk and he dragged himself off the street and escaped... and I cried for hours.  I hated causing that pain.  This world is a tricky place.  Figuring out the balance between rubber bottom shoes and leather jackets and plastic bags for vegan humas and bamboo sheeting (Too expensive for me right now.)  Heck I learned that some of the new hybrid cars are actually very BAD for the environment because of all the shipping overseas they do to put them together in the first place.

I try to be a good person and live by the motto my friends and I went by in college...  *Leave things better than how you found them*.  So I play clean up crew.  I reuse business envelopes by scribbling out printed addresses.  I reuse bread bags to scoop up dog poo.  I reuse leather to aid with my health.  I pick up trash in parks.  And I recycle every scrap of metal I come across. etc etc...

Life is so dang tricky, I just work the best I can on my small scale to cause the smallest amount of residual damage possible.  Good luck with your choices everyone.  May you find peace with them and balance with your world.   ::sitting in the dark with only one 40 watt florescent bulb lighting her computer desk::

Save the Polar Bears! ~ Lost Artist
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I didn't get rid of mine.  I still have a pair of suede shoes that I wear on occasion when the weather is cold so that my feet don't freeze (I have a very low tolerance for cold considering that I'm underweight).  It makes me feel disgusting to wear them, but as of right now I can't afford anything else and I had them to begin with.  I see no problem with it, and neither does most of the animal rights movement.  You're still going to sit on your friend's leather couches/car seats right?  Not much of a difference here... As long as you're not buying new animal products, it's not a big deal.  =) 

"Some people (such as myself) avoid animal products for health reasons. My leather shoes aren't raising my blood pressure. Not a popular sentiment with vegans but what can I say?"

My friend is a health vegan, and she gets crap all the time for carrying around a 700 dollar leather purse... In all honesty, I would never do that because I'm vegan for health and animal rights (among other things).  But the way I see it she's doing way more good for the animals by not eating them or their products than some hypocritical cuddlytarian (omni who is for animal rights... at least the rights of the cuddly, cute animals) is by eschewing leather/fur.  So I commend all of you health vegans.  =)