Do vegans wear wool?

The shoes for men look just like regular shoes, but you'd be hard pressed to get a nice pair of women's shoes that don't cost an arm and a leg. It is better now than it used to be, but from what I've seen vegan shoes for women are more expensive than regular shoes. It's the ethical aspect of the manufacturing that puts up the price.

Despite the stereotype vegan trying to convert everybody they meet, all the vegans and vegetarians I know don't make a fuss about it. They just manage their choices as best they can.

But how many of us wear real leather shoes now, they are very expensive I don’t think I have any so why say that vegans must only wear rubber boots? and likewise wool, real wool clothes are very expensive and hard to wash and dry properly and again I don’t think I have any in my wardrobe So why are people saying ‘whatever do they wear’ most shoes and clothes are made of man made material nowadays
I ve never been a vegan although I was vegetarian for many years but not strict strict just didn’t eat meat and I still only eat very little meat

I am not sure of the sustainability of wearing artificial fibres, almost all of which are made from petrochemicals.

Animal predating and domestication preceded the introduction of farming, which has always been dependent on animal dung for fertility and while there is nothing in vegetarianism to conflict with the basics of agriculture. I do feel that veganism depends on other people not being vegan.

How do vegans ensure that the food they eat has not been produced using animal products?

I seem to spend most of my life inethicalconfusion, Bluebell, trying to work out what's best to do for the planet!
Though I know my choices are insignificant in the wider scheme of things.
Hence my questions re natural materials as opposed to man made. I totally get not wanting to wear leather but have always been troubled by the plastic alternatives. As with the wearing of fleeces as an alternative to wool.
I thank Bold "durhamgen" for her answer. I am always put off when people skirt round an honestly asked question!

Oh that bold thing didn't work. It was the first time I've tried it. What did I do wrong?!!!!!

How many of us wear leather shoes ? A lot of us I would say.

Eglantine you do yourself a disservice. It is the cumulative effect of many small 'insignificant' acts that amount to actions that move mountains. I share your ethical concerns about taking what seem to be the best solutions, but find often, not that two equally justifiable actions are actually in opposition to each other

In my view we should use the wool from sheep and the leather .
What would happen to the animals we have if they were not managed? We have wild rabbits and goats and horses etc . Let them breed without management and they will destroy the pasture etc. Causing soil erosion and damage to trees and much more.
The animals we have would be over running parts of the country. So if you are going to have to manage the animals by culling them then put the skins etc to good purpose. Wasting such resources is criminal.

I am not sure of the sustainability of wearing artificial fibres, almost all of which are made from petrochemicals
monica I’ve got some activewear leggings that claim to be made from recycled plastic bottles. And I think most fleeces come from recycled plastic.
Yes I know the bottles were made from petrochemicals originally but it’s good to know some of them are being recycled imaginatively.
What really bugs me is prepackaged meat & vegetables. I try to avoid them but sometimes it’s impossible.
Is it more environmentally damaging to walk to the convenience shop & buy prepackaged, or drive to the supermarket with the fresh meat counter & buy loose? Just wondering.

It’s a shame that wool isn’t used more. Sheep have to be shorn to stop all sorts of problems but in the UK, it costs more per fleece to shear each sheep that that fleece is worth.
Consequently those herds which were kept simply to provide wool are now economical and most herds are for meat.

I was vegetarian for nearly 20 years and even now I only eat ethically produced meat. But on the question of wool, which was the OP, I feel it’s a terrible waste that these fleeces are not used and valued.

Consequently those herds which were kept simply to provide wool are now uneconomical ....is what I meant to write.

My convenience shop is a Spar. Not a lot of vegan oranic food there.
Is your convenience shop a Waitrose, Jane? I get mine delivefed from Hexham Waitrose.
Eglantine, I used to be asked what was the point as not everyone would become vegetarian. It's still amazing that forty years on people are still asking that.
The point is that you do what you can and others hopefully will think about it and do their bit to help the environment, just as Monica says.
Jane, it's more environmentally damaging to buy meat, full stop.

Any answers anyone wants can be found on
www.viva.org.uk

Many of the people who rescue animals, pigs, horses, turkeys, cows, etc., are vegan.
Nobody has said you cull all the animals. What do you think killing them for meat is if not culling?
You let them live normal lives and die off naturally.
I presume you know that most of the sheep and cattle you see have been produced just for food by artificial insemination. Nothing natural about that.

I didn’t mean just meat jen.
My convenience store is the Co-op which I like to support, but nearly all the fruit & veg are packaged.

I've made a few comments on the other vegan thread that's been going recently, so thought I'd share my two pennies on here too. I'm vegan and don't wear wool or leather, or eat honey, but I do have animals, who I love dearly. Most of the vegan people I know have animals themselves (usually rescues - in fact, the friend that encouraged me to try veganism has a rescue charity). I also haven't chucked out a couple of leather items with sentimental value that I had before I went vegan. To each their own - to me it's not about holding yourself to saintly standards, it's about doing your best.

I think a lot of people feel most satisfied to imagine vegans as 'bizarre extremists' but the truth is that we're mostly just very normal people who happen not to want to consume certain products. And by not consuming those products, I wonder if that in turn makes the people that do feel like they are being judged. In my experience, this is not the case. I respect a meat eater's decision to do so, but respect goes both ways! Both my family and most of the people I've spoken to about my diet/lifestyle (they're usually the ones asking the questions) have been very supportive and interested, I'm happy to say.

Regarding the 'what would happen to all the cows/sheep/pigs etc.' argument, is it natural for these animals to be mass 'produced' and factory farmed? Is that what nature intended, I wonder?

Rainforests have been cut down in swathes to make way for crops for animal feed and for animal grazing, and there have been many studies that show how much plant-based food could be produced to feed a population compared to that which animal rearing could (it's a lot more!) Having said that, I also don't know many (if any) vegans who think they'll live to see a world where everyone is vegan - it's unrealistic and contrary to popular belief, we're not all raving loonies Of course there are some out there who are a bit preachy and annoying (believe me, they get on other vegans' nerves as well!), but then there are plenty of carnivores who think it's funny to put a bag of pork sausages in the veggie section of the frozen aisle As I said, I think respect goes both ways

I'd love my Spar to change to a Co-op.
As I eat organic, my fruit and veg is packaged, but only ever in a plastic bag, which I return to Waitrose. I have to drive to a Co-op. I have to drive to a Tesco which has some organic veg, but not much.

Someone asked how does a vegan know their food is vegan. You have to trust the manufacturers. However if you find out that it isn't, you tell either the shop or your local trading standards.
There has been a problem with labelling foods containing shellac as vegan. If you find your Christmas chocolate unnaturally shiny, it could have been coated with shellac, from crushed beetles wings, something vegans have to look out for.
Many manufacturers just say vegetarian rather than vegan because it's easier, better than being challenged.
I presume you've seen the news about the restaurant in Shropshire?

Well it takes all kinds and some folk do go ott but wearing wool has not meant any harm to the sheep so what is the problem. ?

I presume you've seen the news about the restaurant in Shropshire
Yes
Unbelievable that anyone could be so stupid, but on the other hand it must have been irritating to have specially prepared vegan food for a party, only to have them order regular pizza off the standard menu.
I wonder what would have happened if the restaurateur had just pointed out to the customers at the time, that she’d cooked vegan food for them.
How to ruin your business in one easy lesson.

I prefer the term plant based diet it stops the awful cruelty of the slaughterhouse and also stops the incessant questioning of veganism which will make it look stupid and wrong. Eg wool leather medicines the end of animals etc etc. the binary thing if all or nothing when in fact the reason is to stop the industrialized cruelty. It is naive to think it is anything else but if you want to convince yourselves how eating meat is good then carry on.

Well chipped-in, Downdale I respect your right to your opinion.

Eglantine to make a work bold, use the * and not the " symbol.

'Wild' sheep do not have to be shorn and would naturally shed its coat when it warmer. The problem with our sheep is that they have been bred for to produce wool all year round to the point where it needs to be sheared. Sheep are prematurely shorn for commercial purposes to avoid the loss of wool. In reality the sheep is left cold after shearing.

janeainsworth I heard that when you wash fleeces made from recycled plastic, fibres are washed away and add to the plastic in the ocean, as it's micro sized it gets into the food system. Even if no-one ate fish any more, other animals eat fish etc etc, plastic is the bane of the modern world.

by the way pleather stands for plastic leather so probably worse for the environment than leather in the long term

My soon to be 12 DGD has announced that she is now a full vegetarian. She has hardly touched meat for almost a year and is now sure that she will never eat meat again. Am I silly to be concerned? She is tiny for her age, very petite, not an ounce of body fat and I worry that she might become undernourished. For the last year or so she has avoided "meat" (in the traditional sense) but agreed to have say a lasagne (where she could disassociate the meat) or have a sunday lunch just leaving the meat out but enjoying the gravy made from meat stock. Now she is reading labels etc. and I am worried.

Any assurances would be most welcome.