Since
ancient times people have been fascinated by crystals and the use of them for
various purposes but in recent times the question has been posed, are crystals
ethical? From environmental impacts to dangerous mining conditions, child
labour, illegal mining, corruption and funding terrorism. It’s no wonder that
people are wondering whether to consciously no longer be a consumer of
crystals.
What are a few key examples of unethical crystals? How
are they unethical?
Himalayan Salt
While most people are aware that Himalayan salt lamps
are beneficial by helping to reduce the negative effects of emf emitted by
electronic devices it might be surprising to learn where and how they are
sourced. They actually are sourced from Khewra salt mine in Pakistan using
conventional mining. Environmental impacts associated with these methods
include greenhouse gas emissions as well as land disturbance. Mining conditions
are lacking and in need of improvements. It is also being sold for far too
little at the source. There are also some fakes around being sold.
Himalayan salt lamp.
Tanzanite
There exists conflict between small scale mining which
can be dangerous by Tanzanian nationals and big scale mining by foreigners who
elected to follow De Beers business model to control the supply to market and drive-up
prices with Tanzanite One’s Mark of Rarity certificate. The implication of
which impacts on other mine’s supply eluding that it is somehow inferior and
thus less desirable. The consequence of this is more profits going back
overseas and less profit remaining within the country and being able to be used
by local communities as a path out of poverty.
Tanzanite and diamonds gold ring.
Blood Minerals
What are blood diamonds (as well as other minerals)?
Blood diamonds was a hot topic at the forefront of the
media brought to our attention via the movie, Blood Diamond featuring Leonardo
DiCaprio. Essentially, they contribute to funding insurgency, illegitimate
rebel groups, civil wars, and even the ambitions of a German empire in the
World Wars. The term symbolizes the lives of innocent civilians lost as they
were caught in the crossfire.
Conflict Minerals and Crystal By-products
Contrary to popular belief in a lot of cases crystals
are the by-product of ore mining, the mining for metals such as aluminium,
copper, gold, or other resources such as coal. Most of which is for our
devices. Maybe some people have been questioning or heard of others questioning
how ethical are our devices that we use? Such as mining for rare metals for
mobile phones. Have you ever heard of conflict minerals? Perhaps you might
recall mining for coltan (otherwise known as columbite-tantalite) for mobile
phones in gorilla habitats in the Congo as well as some consumer awareness
efforts to encourage people to recycle their old devices in order to recycle
the metals from the device to reduce the need to mine for new resources. Many
such mines are illegally operated however legal or not they destroy the
environment, endanger wildlife such as chimpanzees, elephants and gorillas,
killing them to feed the mine workers, or selling them illegally to further
fund the mining.
Unless you want to live technology free, most people
feel the need for their devices, for work, education, entertainment,
relaxation, communication etc. It’s a necessary part of modern daily life at
this point. Do we have to live with the necessary evil to get by, make excuses
for it, how can we excuse crystals as the by-product on moral principal and
values? Are crystals necessary? Should we not purchase and fund the activities
of these mines if we can help it on moral grounds? If crystals are meant to be
beneficial, how can they be justified when sourcing them causes so much harm?
If you begrudgingly accept to purchase and use your devices, is it ok to accept
their crystal by-products as well? If we want to work with crystals for their
energy, don’t those crystal by-products have too much negative energy
surrounding them if they can’t be worked with with a clear conscience? Are
those conflict minerals really that rare or can they be sourced elsewhere so
that they are not necessarily a necessity of evil?
In other cases, crystal by-products of copper mines
can include azurite, malachite and turquoise.
This contrasts with the idea of mining solely for
crystals destroys the environment since there is more money to be gained from
mining for other resources so it wouldn’t make as much sense to just mine for
the crystals.
Child Labour
Child labour can be a grey area. In some countries or
families children help their family by working to help feed the family, there
may not be two working parents, one might stay home and look after the younger
children, or a parent may be injured or ill and unable to work, the pay may be
so low that the family still needs children to work to help cover costs.
Families in these circumstances would not be able to cope if there was a
blanket ban on child labour. Such low pay has been likened to modern day slavery.
Some miners take their children to work as there are no schools or childcare
nearby.
Mica used in car paints, cosmetics, edible glitters,
inks is an example of a mineral known to be sourced with child labour.
Terrorism
The ancient Egyptians were famous for their love of
lapis lazuli from Afghanistan. It has previously appeared on television for
having dangerous working conditions but today it may be known to some as directly
funding armed groups like the Taliban up to 20 million dollars per year.
Unethical Gold Mining
On a side note, also in Afghanistan, gold is mined
from the river with sheep skin which is obviously not vegan friendly. Elsewhere
such as places in South America mercury is used during the gold mining process
which is toxic to the environment, animals and the miners themselves who put
earning money for their families above even their own health and safety which
doesn’t help their families in the long term if they cause themselves to become
out of action earlier because of it.
Pricing
Much like fast fashion, if the price is super low
that’s an indicator of someone suffering further up the supply chain.
Crystal Fakes
These can include glass, plastic, lab grown or natural
crystals that are artificially dyed, misnamed or treated and given a brand-new
name.
How can crystals become more sustainable?
As consumers we need to continue asking questions and
holding brands and companies accountable while encouraging them to improve
where or how they source their materials and being transparent about it.
Can crystals be sourced ethically?
Hand mining, mining for pure specimens which entails a
gentler process, sourcing from small mines or buy second hand and avoid
bargains too good to be true. You could even try your hand at mining yourself.
Alternatively, if you are so inclined you can choose lab grown crystals.
An alternative to Himalayan salt for cooking can be
found such as Australian salts produced from groundwater and surfaces which are
naturally saline. Choosing mineral salts sourced from the Murray Darling Basin
can be beneficial to dealing with inland salinity at the heart of Australia’s
Food Bowl. If you live in Australia this would help reduce food miles so better
for the environment.
In 2003 the Kimberly Process was established to
prevent conflict diamonds from circulation where they implement safeguards of
rough diamonds so they can be certified conflict free. Additionally, the KP has
set standards so ethical diamonds are mined in accordance as far as labour and
the environment goes.
Lower grade lapis lazuli can be alternatively sourced
from mines outside of Afghanistan and not just sold by other countries who
import the higher grade from there.
The supply chain can be challenging to track once it
leaves a mine and goes to another country to be carved. A supply chain might
start at the source as unethical but other processes thereafter such as carving
might be ethical. In which case you could choose raw crystals if you know they
are ethically mined unless they also carve at that mine.
Ask questions and purchase from trusted miners, miners
who give back to their communities plus wholesalers or retailers who also ask
questions and are willing to find out more information to consciously source
for their customers.
Do your due diligence, research to inform yourself and
become aware of issues so that you can make informed conscious choices. Choose
brands and companies that align ethically and do not procure from unethical
sources. Share what you learn to help educate others. Together we can help make
a difference.
Alternatives to mica used in makeup can be found right
in your kitchen or garden by trying your hand at creating your own DIY makeup
plus it’ll help enable you to reduce plastic and waste, avoid animal testing,
animal ingredients or by-products, palm oil, chemicals, toxins, preservatives,
and be organic. Or you could go sans makeup.
Otherwise, there are brands such as Lush Cosmetics
that use a plastic free synthetic mica. There are some child free labour mining
of mica for example prior to switching to synthetic mica Lush’s supplier worked
with a local NGO, BBA (Save the Childhood Foundation) that works to help create
child friendly villages.
Just another update post for what I've been working on last year but this of course I will continue to work on this year as well.
I've been busy working on world building the rag doll town, creating rag doll characters, town maps, and creating my first conlang.
Unfortunately my mobile phone is broken and can't use my phone for creating content or posting on Instagram.
You can find me on Twitter @priscillacita
I'm going to have to use a laptop to take any new photos of my work so you can see what I've been working on.
I'm also currently working on the rag doll town native's mythology as well as their language.
They have a pantheon.
(Here the word God could be either male or female as I haven't worked out quite yet who is who.)
In the beginning there were no rules or order, only chaos.
Before the creator god existed there was a void of primordial stuff which was in chaos. During a very long period of time the stuff could float around and stick to itself or once it had come into contact with other particles of itself there produced a force which allowed them to not be separated whereby in the end every particle that existed had collected together. The stuff was the essence of creation. When all of the essence was as one, it formed the creator god.
The creator god began the first of their creations. The creator created thoughts and words which thus created all that followed (manifestation).
The creator god created a universe and life. The destroyer god woke up from a long sleep and saw what the creator god made. The destroyer god went into a rage and destroyed the creator god. Everything the creator god created had the creator god's essence in it. Thus when the creator god is destroyed, all the creator god's creations are destroyed as well until only the essence remains.
After whence the creator god's essence was collected and the creator god was resurrected. Upon the creator god's resurrection, the creator god created the universe and life again. The destroyer god destroys little pieces at a time and the creator god creates new things with their remains. For these are the new rules they both must follow to appease them both as well as everything has a lifespan and will one day be destroyed, including the universe itself. This means there have been and will be many universes in a perpetual cycle carried out by the gods. This was the creation of time.
Since the creator god's essence is in everything and we were all created by the creator, to show and demonstrate respect for the creator we should respect ourselves as well as others. This includes other life forms and inanimate creations by looking after, caring and protecting all of the creator's creations. (This is why the town's native people are peaceful, helpful to people in need, and caretakers of the animals, plants and the environment.)
There are two Cat dragons (or Dragon cats) cuddled up together inside an egg asleep. One wakes up and chuffed producing a puff of smoke like gas into the emptiness. The cloud grew dense and hotter producing sparks which became suns. As the creature inhaled, it sucked in the suns so it's breath exhaled fire. It inhales solar winds from across the universe and exhales nebulas.
The other continues to sleep inside the egg. When it does wake up at some point the two dragon cats get into a cat fight as cats do (or at least my adopted rescue cats, Jemimah and Queen Latifah do right before food time). Their swiping causes rips in the universe which then rips apart - the end of the universe. The two cat dragons settle down as friends again. They eventually climb back inside the egg together and fall asleep again. This cycle is repeated with each creation/destruction of each new universe.
The god of knowledge first began as thought. Next, these were replicated and programmed inside of a bubble - a thought bubble. The thought bubble was propelled outward from the mind, through the aura of the creator god. It materialized in physical form as the god of knowledge, who has a connection with the other gods and creation. Via this connection the god of knowledge is able to acquire new knowledge, aside from the knowledge which they possessed when they were first created from the mind of their creator at that point in time that they were created. So the god of knowledge can tap into unknown hidden knowledge, knowledge from other gods, creations, creations created by creations who were created by the creator god, knowledge from the past, future, and other realms.
The god of knowledge records this knowledge and programmes it in other bubbles to reduplicate itself, making copies of itself. The god of knowledge has created universal history books, manuals which include ingredients, elements, parts, how they go together, how they work, what work tasks they need to do, as well as a psychic consciousness which all higher consciousnesses are connect to. These are the manifestations of the god of knowledge's memory back ups and so that everything that exists can do so automatically and independently.
That's as far as I've gotten with the mythology for now. I have written some other notes, dot points for things I'd also like to include.
Other than that I've been watching and note taking the mythology crashcourse on YouTube as part of my mythology research. I also bought some mythology books for Christmas which include Stephen Fry's 'Mythos The Greek Myths Retold', 'Troy', and 'Heroes Mortals and Monsters Quests and Adventures', as well as 'Myths & Legends An illustrated guide to their origins and meanings' by Philip Wilkinson. I have several books prior to these new additions in my home library on Egyptian history and mythology and a Greek mythology book.
For world building, I have Randy Ellefson's 'Creating Life', 'Creating Places', and 'Cultures and Beyond', as well as 'On Writing and Worldbuilding Vol. 1' by Timothy Hickson.
I also signed up to both of Randy's online world building courses.
For the language creation I would like to do a native people's language, mermaid language, cat language and alien language.
I'm working on the native rag doll language at the moment. For this I bought David J. Peterson's book and audio book, 'The Art of Language Invention From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves, the Words Behind World-Building'. I also bought some books by Mark Rosenfelder but not all of them have been shipped yet. Mark won David's Smiley Award for 2020. Where I found the link to Mark's site so I have some good reading and learning to do there as well.
I also watch Langtime Studio on YouTube every week but I still have a lot of learning to do.
I think I picked the hardest thing to do for my first conlang, that being trying to create a proto language. But even knowing that I don't feel like changing my mind and trying to do something easier.
I've created my phonology and now I'm up to working on the allophony. I took some time the last couple of days as well to create an excel spreadsheet with columns being vocabulary words and rows being different inspiration languages for my proto language. Such languages include Vedic Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, Egyptian Coptic, Old Persian Farsi, Old Latin, Old Chinese and Japanese. It's a little challenging because trying to find the right online dictionary to translate words some dictionaries are traditional book scans so I cannot copy and paste into my excel document so it just takes a lot longer. While others I have to translate to IPA and then romanize it which just takes longer. It's one way to try to learn and memorize the all the IPA. The most difficulty I guess is with the Farsi, there are so many results for just one word and I can't find certain characters/letters in the IPA chart as I'm having to manually translate from Farsi into IPA. I wonder if it's like Sanskrit where they don't just have an alphabet to write with but letters of the alphabet are changed to show the addition of other consonants and vowels. I've watched one video on writing Sanskrit. I have no idea about Farsi. I don't have this problem for Sanskrit because I found a dictionary, albeit scanned so I can't copy and paste it at least has English translation for each word.
I haven't started Old Latin or Japanese but I actually have several Japanese dictionary books at home since my son learns Japanese for home schooling/distance education.
Since I'm also doing a pitch language, I have to go back into my excel file since I only copied and pasted the tones for Old Chinese. Whatever I've hand typed for Sanskrit and Ancient Greek, I haven't typed the pitch accents for so I have to redo all the ones I've done so far.
I've finished all the Old Chinese and am currently working on Egyptian Coptic now whilst listening to 'The Story of Human Language' by Professor John McWhorter on audible. (I actually watched a documentary on TV about Alex the bird years ago.)
If anyone knows some good dictionaries to recommend, please let me know!
Lots of updates to fill you in on so I'll go ahead and dive right in.
As a homeschool parent to a special needs 15 yr old son with Austism, ADHD and sleep disorder I have my hands full most of the time and hence why my failure at keeping up with regular blogging and social media posting is beyond dismal the last half or so year. I do have a bunch of blog posts saved as drafts I need to finish.
I do plan to start a second blog for homeschooling and have written lesson 1 on my homeschool course I'm creating. These plans and ideas and bits of effort towards them occurred last year and I haven't done anything with it since.
This year is a big year as my son has started Yr 11 so we're quite serious in getting on with things and trying to get things finished on time for that. This is the overwhelming priority for the foreseeable future.
In my spare time I've tried to get a bit more serious with developing ideas for the Rag Doll world and characters. For enjoyment, fun, stress relief, and my happy place at the moment.
I have created a fashion line for the Elysiam cafe as well as researched some French architecture, bakeries and patisseries, sketched, created lists for the Elysiam vegan maid cafe/bakery/patisserie/tea house; sketched a few maps of Elysiam's riverside street view, a bit of the town street map, created a list of town features, another for town businesses, rough sketch of a topographic map of the town geography. Naturally I thought the next step would be to create some place names but after watching a couple of world-building videos on Youtube I quickly realized that in order to have place names that had some kind of origin and meaning I might need to create a language which was the very thing I had initially ruled out doing because that seemed too hard and time consuming and I wouldn't have known where to start. The topic of creating a language feels fascinating but I just wanted to charge ahead with things I felt I could achieve more quickly. At this point though I was seriously considering changing my mind however. Mind you this was quite some time after hearing my son tell me about his interest to create a more efficient language and reading about conlangs. I had no idea what he was talking about. I created a list of things to name. From my list of map/town features/businesses I started to write some outline notes and back stories. I'm just starting with a town as I felt that was more realistic and achievable than a whole world. The town origins are of an ancient village that happened to be along a trade route and from that the town and its population grew. If I create a language it would be for the descendants of the original village native people. As I was looking for more worldbuilding videos to watch I saw someone mention Brandon Sanderson's writing course which I am currently note taking. I'm up to Lecture 10: Characters Part 2. Before the worldbuilding lecture I had gone to his site and read up all about Sanderson's Laws and created a magic system which I thought I wasn't going to have any magic initially. I'm thinking I'll weave it into the native's mythology, religion and beliefs. I need to do more character creation and development as well as plots whilst trying to keep things on niche, ie, vegan, ethical, eco, sustainable, organic. If I were to create a second language it would be for the mermaids. At the moment the town is called Ragdazagora. Since I think having him help me with creating my language or two will help him learn more about creating languages and hopefully inspire him to actually start creating his own since he is so interested in it and has done his own independent research teaching himself I think I will endeavour to create my first language. I've also been watching some videos with David J. Peterson about creating a language.
During Lecture 7: Short Stories with special guest instructor, Mary Robinette Kowal, I wrote a shortish story which I'll include here.
The bubble burst! Min looked up in fear to see a purple/greenish glow like the arch of a rainbow dispersing above. She felt a shock-wave pass through her entire body from all directions at once. The faint view of trees progressively came into focus as the misty fog which had blanketed them began to evaporate. Rain clouds formed but pushed by the shock-wave moved on quickly. She sighed with relief as the danger of explosion had now since passed.
A feeling of disorientation took over as she realized she no longer recognised her surroundings. Where was the town, the stream with the bend in it by the big rock protruding through the earth carpeted by ferns? "Juliet!" she suddenly exclaimed. Where had Juliet gone? Min stood frozen with indecision about which direction to take and what she should do next. "Run!" Yelled Juliet as she headed toward her from behind. Min turned around and saw not only a terrified Juliet but a shadowy figure crouch down, place a box with a long rod onto the ground and aim something at them. A dart flew right past Min's knee. As she turned back around and started to run Juliet had caught up with her. A thud was heard from up ahead.
As the pair dashed into the trees they were halted in their tracks by a creature laying on the ground with the dart sticking out of it and two women crouched either side of it looking back up at them. "whoa, whoa, it's okay. We're not here to hurt you." said one of the women. While the other stated, "We're not harming it. It won't attack you." The other woman said, "We're just checking its health." Min and Juliet were confused and still frightened. "Would you like to help?" asked one of the women. They were trying to move it onto a stretcher. Min and Juliet stepped in to help. Once it was securely on the stretcher they carried it over to a table surrounded by strange apparatus. "Where are we? We're a bit lost. Is the town nearby?" asked Min with no reply. "We need to get this done as quickly as we can before it wakes up." said one of the women. Min and Juliet watched as the two women worked busily taking and recording measurements, weighing it, checking its heart rate etc. They wanted to be sure that animal would be safe and unharmed so they stuck around and assisted as best as they could whilst hopeful they'd learn the answer soon.
"It's starting to stir." said one of the women. They all helped it back onto the stretcher and began to walk it back to the ground. As they were removing it from the stretcher one of the women started packing up the table and kit. Then the other woman folded up the stretcher. "Is there a town nearby?" Min asked again. "It's going to wake up soon." the woman with the stretcher declared. "We better hurry up then. Can you help us carry the kit back to the hut?" asked the woman with the table as she stretched out her arms with two bags of kit. Min took one of the bags whilst Juliet grabbed the other. They made the trek to the hut along the same direction but then after some time turned right to proceed up hill. The hut stood to the left of them. One woman went up the stairs and unlocked the doors. Then the woman still below passed up the folded table to the woman above, then the stretcher. "You can take the bags up with you." the woman next to them instructed. Juliet went up first and Min next. The woman followed behind them. Min walked over to the other woman standing at the balcony. As she looked out she sew the town below.
It appeared mostly familiar with several strange new additions. "You've been in that bubble for quite some time I'm guessing." the woman next to her suggested as she eyed her clothing up and down. "How do you know about-" Min was interrupted by the woman unzipping a bag and laying some odd garments onto the bed. The other woman had started to set food and drink onto the table out on the balcony. Juliet took a bite of a fruit. "After lunch you can change and head back down into town. You can stay with us if you like while we help you figure out your next move" the woman by the bed offered.
I probably went well over the suggested 250 word count. I also broke the rules about the one or two characters. In order to attempt to do a story on niche, ie, about conservation and discovery writing with no outline, that's how it came to mind. I wouldn't mind changing a few words and have Juliet say one or two other things. This was done during the lecture quickly which is not something I'm used to doing. I usually write lyrics or poetry and I'm not a confident or professional writer but I have fun and get excited about my ideas and am happy learning more about making my writing better.
I wonder if it's okay to start in the middle of a dramatic action scene and not knowing much about any of the characters to care about them or just let things unfold and be revealed as it goes along or would people lose interest because they don't care enough and not hang around continuing to read by the time we get to that point... Maybe I should start with a scene inside the bubble leading up to before it bursts and not just leave it as a back story to flashback to later in the story...
I'd like to write more episode type stories for comics/graphic novels and for the virtual magazine and artworks.
Why I haven't posted for a while and what I've been up to
I've been working on a fewdraft posts that aren't ready just yet. One is aboutvegan art supplies. Currently I'm homeschooling my son, he's in year 8 now. Doesn't time fly! I'm also studying doing Creative Arts, Design and CAD (architecture) and Research Project where my question relates to a vegan, ethical, eco, sustainable and organic bed and breakfast with self sufficient food garden and animal sanctuary. So I'm super busy and not much time for blogging.
Update 3 Jan 2021
I looked at this a few weeks ago and realized I hadn't posted anything about actually finishing my Creative Arts and Research Project subjects which I completed at the end of 2019.
I won't be re enrolling in Design and CAD at all as the major focus is on home schooling my son who is doing year 11 subjects since 2020.
My phone is broken so my Instagram is on hiatus for a while.
You can find me over on my Twitter which I access on my laptop @priscillacita.
I think there's some typos below which I intend to fix up but can't remember where they are and need to reread again at some point.
Update 20 Aug 2019: This blog post was from the 4th of July 2018. Design and CAD
I am no longer doing Design and CAD and didn't finish the subject. I got stuck on my client, aka my mum, after I did all my materials research, we were thinking of building with hemp or hempcrete but I had spent a lot of time researching straw and saving a lot of pics for my design brief. Or she liked thatched roofs but we both liked terracotta and slate but eep the budget. Nothing was actually decided on. My sketches were too ambitious aka could take too long to create in revit or go over the budget. I had no ideawhat the budget was or how to calculate costs to see if it met the budget. I had too many ideas and sketches and couldn't figure out a floor plan I liked, to have basically a house for myself, my son and my mum and then somewhere else for the guests, an activity/event/workshop/class room/space, a kitchen that could be private for us but still be able to open up for hosting cooking classes and allow guests to mingle and be situated close or next to the activity room, a private lounge for us and a communal lounge for the guests, two formal dining rooms, one for us and one for guests or open up wall/door between them for bigger guest dining, a breakfast table private and separate from the kitchen for us but can be utilized for extra space for cooking classes. I hate open plan kitchens. I grew up in an 80's home with open plan and I never liked it. I hate sitting at the dining table to eat a meal and there's just mess everywhere, dirty dishes, cooking pots etc. I really like the 60's style kitchens on vintage TV shows such as, I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched but with maybe some kind of wall or door/s that could slide/fold or swing open or out of the way to open it upfor cooking classes. I also like the widows that can open/close to a breakfast/cocktail bar with stools. When I was 11 years old my mum used to volunteer at and take me along to a Transcendental Meditation centre which was in a big old French Mansion. I loved that place. It had a kitchen window that could be slid closed. We'd have mint tea. That sparked my joy for enclosed kitchens, the antithesis to our house at the time. It also had window shutters out the front.
Anyway my design brief was getting a bit indecisive and I decided to withdraw from the subject as I realized I wasn't going to get that assignment and the next one done in time on top of my other two subjects and I'm happy to spend more time researching and brainstorming, doing more sketches, collecting more ideas and allowing time for things to settle in my mind of more precise details and overall vision as this is something I want to do in real life.
I did learn how to use the revit CAD programme and create renderings which the assignment was to create it in revit so I can still do that whether I re enrol to finish the subject or not. I would finish all the assignments before re enrolling so I don't run out of time again. Creative Arts and Research Project
I didn't actually finish Creative Arts or Research Project either. I 96% finished Research Project but right at the end safari wasn't loading and google drive was doing crazy things to my documents and my iphone wouldn't uploadphotos of my organic gardening and bee hotel etc to the laptop so I didn't quite make it.
With Creative Arts I ran out of timeto finish my 2 products and product folio. I spent too much time researching and waiting on return phone calls about whether certain art supplies were vegan or not and my teacher just said I wouldn't finish so the rest of the weeksI relaxed and just did more research for my sketches for my painting so I could re enrol and finish this year.
So this year right now I am working on finishing my Research Project subject and Creative Arts. It was all going fine but I've run into some hiccups, the course time lines don't really allow for go at your own pace so I can home school my son, have a couple weeks off to get ready for my house inspections or even to spend much time doing housework in general or cooking as much as I used to like I did in 2017 where I would cook things that would take hours and lots of steps. Or even time for exercise and relaxing. I'm on the verge of I could finish these two subjects versus I have a house inspection and another homeschool review to prepare for. If I literally take time off doing homework to do those two other things or it takes me a bit longer to do those things there wont be enough time left in the year to finish my products and folio and I wont finish the subject again. My art teacher warned me she doesn't know how many times we're allowed to enrol in the same subject so if I don't finish this year I may not finish ever. Otherwise I was going to drop out over a month ago, finish all my work and then re enrol when everything is finished. I just thought at the start of this year I'm already dropping Design and CAD, I've already nearly finished the practical skills folio, I've already nearly finished the art movement investigation/enquiry, it's just the 2 products and folio it felt doable. Now I'm stressed out feeling like I'm going to run out of time again. I haven't even touched Research Subject at all this year. I've been attending lessons but only doing art homework. Yikes.
This is why there hasn't been a blog post since July last year. But I started a humongous draft blog about zero waste it could turn into a book over Christmas time. Then school started again. If I don't finish this year, I am not re enrolling next year. I would finish everything and maybe enroll 2021 and just hand it up submit all my work and no classes. If I actually manage to finish this year would be a miracle and next year just home school my son and get back into my blog and set up my site and online shop. Future second blog
Regardless we will be starting another blog different to this one as well as not instead of. It will be about vegan, eco, ethical, organic home schooling. He will be in year 10 next year and he is autistic, adhd and sleep disorder so our experience and content might be a bit different to other homeschool blogs. He will also be practicing some year 11 subjects and content to prepare for the year after. He's already doing year 10 level Japanese and Computer Technologies even though he's enrolled as a year 9. He's in a year 9/10 Japanese distance education online class. So he's quite advanced. It will be an exciting adventure so I'll share on here so anyone who is interested can follow the other blog as well. His big challenges we will focus on are time management, motivation, appropriate social behaviour/communication skills, positivity, self love/appreciation/self esteem and compassion/caring for others/kindness/sensitivity/gentleness. We're going to have an excursion to a local animal sanctuary so I'm looking forward to that.
Where you can find me online and what kind of content I do
I'm on Twitter but just using @priscillacita at the moment and Instagram @rag_doll_magazine I do a quick retweet here and there just to keep things going and post randomly once a month or once a week depending on what content I have to post.
You can also see our adopted rescue cats, Queen Latifah and Jemimah on there as well as vegan palm oil free food I make or buy (would love to create my own recipe book), eco nature travel photographyby moi (which I'd love to turn into a calendar or coffee table book or artwork, sometimes I sketch from my photos artwork for fashion embroideries etc). Plus random niche purchases I've made such as vegan ethical footwear, vegan charcoal tooth powder, eco toothbrushes and books about reducing waste, green energy, eco architecture.
Update: I've just created a new Instagram account @vegan_art_community for vegan artists to share our work and support each other and our supporters. I've only put one post of my own to get things started. So I'll need to be able to share other vegan artists' work on there. If you're a vegan artist (vegan art, using vegan art supplies only, living the vegan lifestyle) and would like to be featured please tag me on the art you'd like featured or use #veganartcommunity, or comment here. If you're not a vegan artist please feel welcome to follow, like and become a supporter.
Update 20 Aug 2019:I'm now mainly on instagram and I have a new art account specifically for a fictional vegan cafe @officialelysiamfanclub This is the account I go on everydaysince I'm finding it a bit challenging gaining new followers.I have posted some of the artworkon my main account @rag_doll_magazine but only one or two people from there have followed.I think I might create a post with text in the picto see if that helps. I'd love if you're interested to please follow @officialelysiamfanclub on instagram, like my posts, comment and show your support there.
In Design and CAD I'm working on natural vegan materials and designing a bed and breakfast. Something I'd like to do for real one day but total lack of funds right now.
For Creative Arts I'm just continuing what I was working on prior to enrolling. I've been working on a fictional rag doll world and characters based on my vegan, ethical, eco, sustainable, organic niche. Two of my latest characters are maid cafe owners. Their vegan cafe/bakery/patisserie is a mix of Japanese, French and Thai. I've been working on a 12 page folio for it which will later become a colouring book. Right now I'm doing a 20 page folio and 2 products. They're either going to be a vegan cloth doll of one of my rag doll characters, a vegan canvas painting based on the maid cafe owners attending a sweet dessert candyland carnivale which reflects how life is, sweet on the surface and animal products and by products and exploitation which isn't always transparent for us to see. The other product is vegan embroidery patches which I am going to do regardless if it doesn't get done for the course. It's been great being busy and working on content and potential products and not just scheduling to pinterest or research but getting some actual work going/progress/done.
What happened to my website and future goals for another site
My site, ragdollmagazine.com is down. Think I didn't update my paypal details but I'm not worried or I was fine to let it lapse because I still have my blogger blog and I want a better site that I hope to work on next year with a stand alone shop not hosted by squarespace etc as in I'd like to look at a vegan webhosting provider or hire a vegan web designer or someone who can code a stand alone site (Please get in touch if you are a vegan web designer/coder who has the skills to help set up my bigger vision. Although I don't have any funds for that right now but I'd at least like to know so I can keep someone in mindwhen I'm readyor we could partner up and create a team if you'reinterested in sharing the vision and helping making things happen while being able to help others on their journey and passionate about helping animals, the planet and people.) so I can have an online shop where I would be able to put that money back into the costs of paying for hosting or setting up a stand alone online shop and possibly being able to reduce the item price or use that amount I can set aside for fund raising for other projects/purchasing supplies etc or donating to other worthy causes if I don't have to hand a percentage stall fee over to someone else. I'd also like to have an online magazine, not just a blog by itself. Way down the track I'd love to start a niche market place and online community (I'd definitely need someone with the skills to help me with those).
Creative Arts Colouring Book
Here's a sneak peak at the colouring book progress, somethings finished, others unfinished or need to fix up.
Lolita pastel goth maids, Ely(se) and Sia, posing out the front of the vegan cafe, Elysiam
Also featuring pastel goth decorated sugar cookie on a pretty heart shaped tray and a manekineko split tail yokai lucky cat teapot. She's standing on her foot so I need to fix that. That accidentally happened when I was tracing an earlier sketch and I wanted to make them more joined at the hip though they are not conjoined twins like the famous Siamese twins I wanted to express their close sister like bond. Although it did help inspire the spelling of Elysiam instead of Elysium and in turn their character names and where the Thai theme for the cafe was sparked.This page is unfinished so I'll fix it up and finish later.
Sweet treats for the Elysiam Cafe window display
Dragon Fruit Cake
(inspired by a pineapple cake I saw on pinterest a few years ago)
Japanese edible blooming flower tea raindrop cake
Edible flowers include Jasmine, rose buds, and peony with tea leaves.
Muffin
This muffin features decorative piped icing, cream frosting, Thai inspired carved fruit but with the Japanese sakura blossom flower shape and Thai dessert, khao mao tod.
Cupcake
Featuring French macaroon with dripping style icing, Japanese manekineko lucky cat with katakana characters/text which translates to Elysiam. This cupcake also features a Thai dessert, khanom buang with added frosting and sprinkles on top.
I would love to finish my 12 page colouring book and set up a kickstarter or crowdfunding type thing where I could sell it to possibly help raise funds for a vegan bed and breakfast and animal sanctuary.
These are the kind of pics I post on @officialelysiamfanclub on instagram as well as behind the scenes sketches and inspiration pics, other Elysiam rag doll characters including doll versions of our adopted rescue cats, Jemimah and Queen Latifah which you can swipe across to see photos of them as the inspiration.
I love cake designing and recipe creating so these artworks I'd love to turn into a recipe book. Plus I've started working on a menu for the cafe and future recipe book too. I'm more of a savoury cook at home though. I usually just buy vegan cake when we go out.I've never decorated cakes and cookies and done fancy piping before so that would be a fun experiment. My dream oven would be a pretty pink or turquoise vintage style and large enough to cater for bed and breakfast guests or host cooking classes at the bnb.
Update 20 Aug 2019: I've gone through my whole blog post and edited it to create some headingsand bold and italic text as well as larger bold text.
There's a lot going on in this post and I wanted to give it some more structure and the bold to hopefully stand out and grab attention to the key keywords.
I hoped this might help if too much text feels overwhelming or time consuming. Plus for those who would rather just scan the post it would make it much easier and quicker as some of us have busy lives and haven't the time to really read as much.
I really needed to do some updates and felt like it needed to be in this blog post, not a new blog post since this one is the most recent post and out of date. I wanted to just pop in and edit the post heading but realized there's no point trying to make it go viral if the content is so outdated so it turned into more work and time than I was expecting. Now back to my homework and housework and maybe see you @officialelysiamfanclub on instagram ;)
Also I seem to be having trouble replying to comments so I'll have to reply within the post for now.
Thank you so much for the kind, flattering and encouraging comment! A much needed boost as I tend to doubt my abilities and have high expectations/standards. I'd love to be a professional writer. Good to know people are interested in what I am creating and hope that it is helpful as I'd like this to be an educational blog to help others on their journey :D
Last week I did some rough sketches of new Rag Doll characters.I was feeling inspired to go to my happy place.
Each character has a different personality which I wanted to tap into with their fashion. From left to right is Rococo/Oriental, Egyptian/Oriental, 60's, 60's/Boho. One of my favourite things to do with fashion is mixing different styles, cultures and time periods. Some of it might be a bit eccentric or OTT but I don't consider certain things as costume but rather couture. I have used the sketch to update and makeover my profile pictures and covers elsewhere except my Youtube where it was too small to use as a cover there.
In other new news I just set up myInstagramaccount last night which is rag_doll_magazine Please follow me on there! One mistake I made without knowing was following too many people too quickly. I have been blocked from that action till Thursday. Whoops. I've also gone over my monthly data usage and have called my provider to switch it off till I phone next month to switch it back on again (they were great enough to refund the auto data block when it went slightly over without my approval and when I explained that the automatic feature was not at any stage made clear to me until now and that they should consider having options to approve or not. I will not make that mistake again. Next month I will probably stop at the 85% notification if I don't want to go over again as there is no notification between 85% and 100%. Now I know were my other data went. My son was looking at maps. We've had a chat so hopefully next month all my data will just be for Instagram which was the whole reason I purchased my new phone because my old phone was just a bit too old for Instagram). So if you follow me please be patient as I can't follow anyone back on Instagram until then.
The following list format has the brand or shop in bold then a website link followed by a description after which may be alternative stockists. There may be further descriptions if different sites stock different product styles. I really wanted to make the list easy to navigate. Even if you've never heard of the brands the descriptions might help guide you as to what you might be interested in or what could best suit you.
Blog Post Contents
Due to the size of this blog post I'll let you know what is covered within the post here.
After what I call "the master list" is some research and information about how to shop for vegan shoes. Not all glues used are vegan so even if the materials are animal friendly the glue might not be. I encourage you to make contact with brands and query about materials and glue so you can make the best informed choices when shopping for vegan footwear. I've also included information about materials which I recommend checking out before making a purchase so you can make the most animal friendly, ethical, sustainable and environmentally friendly decisions. Some materials information is included within the list but not repeated elsewhere. I've made that italic so it is a little easier to locate.
Vegan Footwear, Brands and Stores
2 Lips Toohttp://www.twolipsshoes.com I saw a shoe recommended by Peta by this brand http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/10-shoes-every-vegan-woman/ Available at DSW http://www.6pm.com a store with some vegan footwear and brands. Aetrex https://www.aetrex.com at Nice Shoes Sandals. Ahimsahttp://en.useahimsa.comVegan. Sandals, slip ons, loafers, oxfords, boots, boat shoes and sneakers. Also at MooShoes Oxfords, boat shoes and sneakers. Vegan Chic Brogues, boots and dress shoes. Alternative Outfittershttp://alternativeoutfitters.com A vegan store with different brands to choose from. Arcopedicohttp://www.arcopedico.com.au Boots, slip ons, Mary Janes. "produced with biodegradable materials". "Lytech the green shoe vegan friendly No animal products are used in Lytec fabrics". There is no mention of what kind of glue is used. Some products also do not mention what kind of lining is used. Vegan Chic Avesuhttp://www.avesuveganshoes.com A vegan store with lots of different brands. B.A.I.T Footwearhttp://www.baitfootwear.com Retro and vintage inspired designs and an array of colour choices. I did find a few pairs, the Penelope C. Blue/Sage, Pinky Latte/Mint/Deep Rose, Edie Black/Turquoise/Tan/Coral, Emma Mint, Shirley Coral/Teal/Yellow, Silla Blue/Yellow, Selena R. Pink/Blue/Black. where the lining was man made + leather. Some styles do not mention what the lining is made from. One would hope they are older stock and all new styles from now on will be 100% vegan. Many styles are 100% vegan friendly. At the bottom of the site it reads "No Animals Were Harmed in Making This Site" which contradicts the leather lining. I wonder if they meant faux leather for the lining but for some reason didn't type it or if it is in fact actually leather. Also at MooShoesNice Shoes BC Footwearhttps://www.bcfootwear.com Available at MooShoes Boots, sandals, wedges, heels, flats, lace ups, flatforms and oxfords. Also at Vegan Chic Boots, heels, oxfords, sandals and flats. Beira Rio I can't find a website for the brand but they are available at Vegan Style Mary Janes, heels, sandals, wedges, gladiators and flats. Beyond Skinhttp://www.beyondskin.co.ukVegan. Boots, sandals, heels, brogues, sneakers, Mary Janes, flats, loafers and platform wedges. Vegan Chic Bhavahttp://bhavastudio.com "eco-suede lining" I'm not sure if that is faux or not. The video for the EDITOR 2-in-1 Knee Boot reads "breathable lining". "Italian vegan leather does not contain aromatic amines, PCP, formaldehyde, PVC, phthalates, azo-dyes, or chrome." Some items are returned and tagged when searching vegan but there is no statement on the site or social media that the brand is entirely vegan and no mention of what kind of glue is used. Also at MooShoes Sandals. Available at Nice ShoesVegan Chic Birkenstock http://www.birkenstock.com/home-en.htm Also at Ethical Wares Sandals and slides. Birki's http://www.birkenstock.com/collection-en-category-birkis.htm Disney and Marvel. A Birkenstock collection. Available at Vegan Chic Slides. Also at Ethical Wares Blowfishhttp://www.blowfishshoes.com There is no mention of vegan on their site or social media and nothing about what kind of glue is used. Also at Nice Shoes Boots, sandals, wedges and ballet flats. Available at Vegan Chic Blundstonehttp://www.blundstone.com Also available at Nice Shoes Canvas boots. Bogshttp://www.bogsfootwear.com.au/shop/index.html Also at Nice Shoes Boots. Bourgeois Bohemehttp://www.bboheme.comVegan. Vegan Chic Brave Gentlemanhttp://www.bravegentleman.comVegan. Also at MooShoes Mens shoes and boots. Vegan Chic Bzeeshttp://www.bzees.com There is no mention of vegan on the site or social media. There is no mention of what kind of glue is used. It is a Caleres brand. Also available at Nice Shoes Sneakers and slip ons. Cammina Leggerohttp://www.camminaleggero.com/enVegan. Boots, Mary Janes, lace ups and sandals. Available at Vegan Style Boots, Mary Janes and sandals. Chacohttp://www.chacos.com/US/en/home Also at Nice Shoes Sandals and sneakers. I once read that PU has leather in it. http://www.ask.com/home-garden/difference-between-pu-pvc-d24337f16e65e0f4?qo=questionPageSimilarContent "Occasionally, polyester is used in place of the split leather material." It may be difficult to know which PU uses leather and which uses polyester and would definitely require enquiring. Charmonehttp://charmone.comVegan. Boots and heels. Vegan Chic City Classified I can't find a website for the brand but they are available at http://www.shoetopia.com/city-classified-shoesAlternative Outfitters and other stores. They are a Fortune Dynamic brand. Chinese Laundry at Alternative Outfitters CL by Chinese Laundry http://www.chineselaundry.com/brand/cl-by-laundry and at lulus Vegan Chic (When I search for CL and CL by Chinese Laundry, CL does not appear.) Alternative Outfitters Claehttp://www.clae.com Also available at Nice Shoes Canvas sneaker. Columbiahttp://www.columbia.com Also available at Nice Shoes Boots. Conversehttps://www.converse.com.au Also at Nice Shoes Sneakers Coral 8http://www.coral8.com doesn't seem to load. Available at Vegan Chic and other stores. Cosi Cosi http://www.cosicosifashion.com/index.php?language=enVegan. Boots, sandals, heels, platforms and wedges. Available at AvesuBoots, wedges, platforms, heels, and sandals. Cougarhttp://www.cougarboots.com Also at Nice Shoes Boots. Vegan Chic Cri de Coeurhttp://cridecoeur.myshopify.comVegan. Also at MooShoes and Nice Shoes Boots. Vegan Chic (Here when I search for "Cri de Coeur" Harts of Darkness also appear but does make a bit of sense since Hearts of Darkness is Cri de Coeur's diffusion line. Cri de Coeur did not show up till page 2 but that may change with time.) Cruzerz http://www.cruzerz.netVegan Chic Slip ons Deer Stagshttp://www.deerstags.com and at Alternative Outfitters mens shoes. Deklinehttp://www.dekline.com at Nice Shoes Skateboard sneakers and slip ons. Di Romeo Everything I've tried searching for and reading keeps directing me to http://www.diromeo.it but it doesn't seem like the correct site. http://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2013/05/06/vegan-footwear-solutions-di-romeo-vegan-made-in-italy/ They sound 100% vegan but I really need a site of their own to verify. http://www.rightshoes.ch/Di_Romeo_Vegan_partner_Right_Shoes_ENG They are available at Vegan Style and Sudo Shoes Dirty Laundry I can't find a website for the brand but they are available at http://www.lulus.com and alternativeoutfitters. Vegan Chic Espadrille Dollhouse http://www.dollhouse.com/store/shoes.html Not enough info on their site if I was on the correct site. http://www.urbanog.com/dellhouse-shoes-pumps-boots-heels-sandals.html Available on other sites at one time or another Lulu's http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/10-shoes-every-vegan-woman/ Do'Nihttp://sitekreator.com/donigiftoflove2/main.htmlVegan. Retail profits are donated. Sister line of Kailia Footwear. Do'Ni is a collaboration by Nancy Dong and Carlotta Fiorini. Ballet flats. Dr. Martenshttp://international.drmartens.com Also at MooShoes and Nice Shoes Dress shoes and combat boots. DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse http://www.dsw.com Many different brands. Not all of them are vegan. DVShttps://www.dvsshoes.com at Nice Shoes Canvas sneakers. EKN http://www.eknfootwear.comhttp://www.eknfootwear.com/shop/women/specials/vegan/http://www.eknfootwear.com/cat/index/sCategory/108 Sneakers and flip flops Elizabeth's Kind Cafehttp://www.elizabethdetroit.com On different days at different times I tried to visit the site it reads that they are "currently performing scheduled maintenance and updates". El Naturalistahttp://www.elnaturalista.com/en/ Also at Nice Shoes Sling back flats. Emericahttps://emerica.com/Vegans Rejoice! at Nice Shoes Sneakers. Espanol I can't find a website for the brand but they are available at Ethical Wares and other stores. Esprit http://www.esprit.com.au A division of Vida Shoes International http://www.vidagroup.com Also available at Avesu Ethical Wareshttp://www.ethicalwares.com a vegan store with lots of different brands and lots of other lovely shoes. Ethletichttp://ethletic.comVegan. Sneakers, fair dancer (ballerinas sneaker sole ballet slipper), flip flops, slip ons, boat shoes loafers. At Ethical Wares Sneakers and flip flops. Also at Vegan Chic Sneakers. Etiko http://www.etiko.com.auVegan. "Please note that no Etiko product contains any animal ingredients." Sneakers, flip flops and slippers. At vegan style Sneakers and flip flops. Also available at http://www.veganonline.com.au/wardrobe/shoes Etnieshttp://etnies.comhttp://etnies.com/shop/vegan/ at Nice Shoes Skateboard sneakers. FAIR Shoes I couldn't find a site for the brand but they are available at Vegan Style (This link is from a search I performed for "FAIR Shoes" but also shows a few at the bottom of the results by Brave Gentlemen. I do prefer the sites that allow us to shop by brand that already have that feature built in. It is so much easier than trying to search for brands which you might not know are featured on the site without perusing every category and every page which takes a long time but is exactly what I did to compile this list.) Feiyuehttps://www.feiyue-shoes.com I like their animal collection if they were vegan. Vegan Chic Sneakers. Form & Faunahttp://formandfauna.comVegan. Heels and wedges. I'm not sure if the brand is still currently producing and selling at this point in time. Their Facebook page has not been updated since 2012. Fortune Dynamichttp://www.fortunedynamic.com also on Vegan Chic Sandals. Freerangershttp://www.freerangers.co.ukCatalogue 2015Vegan. Sandals, loafers, slides, mary janes, boots, lace ups and monk shoes. FreiVon https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.freivon-schuhe.de/&prev=searchVegan. "The outer material we chose for an artificial leather, since we want to offer an alternative to leather shoes." The "Free of" link at the bottom of the page didn't do anything when I clicked on it so I went to the original site and clicked on FreiVon at the bottom of the page and then translated that "Basic requirement for all of our materials is that they are vegan." "EQ Porellina consists of 50-60 percent polyurethane and 40-50 percent non-food crops . Unfortunately the product is not recyclable . However, it may be burnt without toxic emissions." I'm not sure about that I'd want to look into that more. I don't think I'm a fan of burning things. If they can't be recycled could they be repurposed? "Jomo made of recycled polyurethane residues from the mattress industry with anti-bacterial treatment." Available at Avesu Lace up dress shoe. Generic Surplushttp://genericsurplus.com at Nice Shoes Sneakers. Globehttp://www.globebrand.com at Nice Shoes Sneakers. Good Guyshttp://goodguys.bigcartel.comVegan. Sneakers, boots, loafers and oxfords. Also at Nice Shoes Sandals, boots, sandals, platforms, flats and oxfords. Available at MooShoes Boots and shoes. Gram http://www.gramshoes.comhttp://www.thediscerningbrute.com/tag/gram-shoes/Vegan Chic Sneakers. (this link is from a search for "Gram" and shows sneakers by Gram but also one by Macb so I don't know why that appeared in the search results.) Grand Step Shoes http://www.grandstep.de I think it reads "beautiful, comfortable, ecological" and "our Internet site is just about overworked". I can't do anything with the site or click on anything so maybe they are working on it or have a daily traffic limit but I'm not sure. Also available at Avesu Boots, sneakers and ballerina flats. Grendhahttp://www.grendha.uk.com "All Grendha footwear is 100% recyclable and does not contain any animal products". It is a Grendene brand. Flip flops, sandals and wedges. Hearts of Darkness(some sites list as Harts of Darkness) Vegan. Everything I look at points to http://cridecoeur.myshopify.com which makes sense since it is the lower price point line of Cri De Coeur but there are no Hearts of Darkness footwear on there. They are available at Vegan Chic and other stores Hi-Techttp://www.hi-tec.com/au/ Also at Nice Shoes Hiking boots. Impericonhttp://www.impericon.comhttp://www.impericon.com/uk/http://www.impericon.com/uk/catalogsearch/result/?q=vegan A store that sells a few different brands. Indosolehttp://indosole.comhttp://indosole.com/search?type=product&q=veganhttp://indosole.com/blogs/indosole/tagged/vegan I see a few things tagged as vegan but nothing about the entire brand being vegan and every product. I can't find what type of glue is used. the Kota is my top pick! Their soles are made from old tyres! Also at MooShoes Insectahttp://www.insectashoes.com/?language=enVegan. "Fabrics and prints from abandoned outfits are transformed into vegan oxfords and boots. That means our shoes have absolutely no use of materials with animal origin." Lovely vintage clothing fabrics with attractive colours and patterns but would prefer more ladies styles to choose from. It is very much oxford city which isn't my style unless they have a heel, wedge or are a boot but I would definitely choose for a guy. Also at MooShoes J-41 I can't find a site for the brand but they are available at Vegan Chic Boots, sandals, walking shoes, wedges, and slides. Also at other stores. Jambuhttp://www.jambu.com "Jambu's Vegan Designs use no animal products while providing the same comfort and quality standards." A division of Vida Shoes International http://www.vidagroup.com Also at Vegan Chic John FluevogNothing comes up when I search 'vegan' on https://www.fluevog.com Also at Vegan Chic Oxford Jonny's Vegan http://www.johnwshoes.de/JONNY_S-VEGAN/https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.johnwshoes.de/JONNY_S-VEGAN/&prev=searchhttps://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.johnwshoes.de/JONNY_S-VEGAN/&prev=search Also available at Avesu Boots, heels, sandals, ballet flats and sneakers. Kailiahttp://www.kailiafootwear.com/Home_1.htmlhttp://sitekreator.com/kailia/Home_1.htmlVegan. Designer luxury. Boots, heels and sandals. Kamik http://www.kamik.com/http://www.kamik.com/b2c_int_en/catalogsearch/result/?q=vegan Lots of their products are made with recyclable materials. Also available at Nice Shoes Boots. KANDALShttp://www.kandals.comVegan. "KANDALS shoes are made out of an eco-friendly material. The upper portion of each pair of KANDALS is made with organic cotton from Spain while the outsole is composed of natural rubber. We do not use animal products in any part of KANDALS." Also at MooShoes Canvas sneakers. Kedshttp://www.keds.com/en/home at Nice Shoes Sneakers. Keephttp://keepcompany.comVegan. Also at MooShoes Boat shoe and sneakers. Available at Nice ShoesVegan Chic (Other brands are returned when I search "Keep" which means to locate the brand I have to search by category and just keep and eye out for the brand amongst other brands.) Komododoesn't have any footwear on their site but is available at Ethical Wares flip flops and sling back platform wedge peep toes with bows. Lakaihttp://lakai.com Also at Nice Shoes Canvas sneaker. Laundry I can't find a site for the brand but they are available at Vegan Chic Ballet flat. Le Bunny Bleuhttp://www.lebunnybleu.comhttp://www.lebunnybleu.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=relevance&dir=desc&q=vegan&x=0&y=0 Some cute bunny features. Also at MooShoes A wedge and loafers with heels. LifeStridehttp://www.lifestride.com A Caleres brand. Some of their other brands are not vegan. Also at Nice Shoes Womens shoes. Heels, loafers, peep toe wedges and Mary Jane flats. LOVE IS MIGHTYhttp://loveismighty.comVegan. Hand embroidered Indian vintage textiles by tribal artisans. Many of their Facebook page posts are #vegan but there was a post featuring heels that didn't have the #vegan and on closer inspection of the picture one pair at least are miu miu. "a company fully dedicated to the rights and welfare of animals." Their Twitter page reads "free of all animal products." Lowahttps://www.lowaboots.com Available at Avesu Hiking boots and sneakers. LuLu'svegan shoes http://www.lulus.com/categories/179_257/vegan-shoes.html Gladiators, strapy, wrap around lace ups etc. It would be good to see some of the styles in a variety of colours other than blue and red as it is mostly neutrals. Not always but mostly. Lungehttp://www.lunge.comhttps://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.lunge.com/&prev=searchVegan. "Our running shoes were, belong to the group of vegans. We use no leather namely a - a fundamentally problematic material. Because: In leather toxins can be removed through the aggressive action of sweat. Instead, we prefer to use tested sweat-resistant materials with particularly good skin compatibility, in which no toxins may arise""Our adhesive used is of course REACH Compliant (European Chemicals Regulation) and comes from a strictly controlled producers." I'm not sure what that means or if the glue they use is vegan or not. "Our material for the top cover of Gomax insoles, is from Italy. Due to our claim to Vegan and pollutant-free materials we landed at the new Lai Porelina." Available at Avesu Running sneakers. Macbethhttp://macbeth.com/us/shop-8/vegan.html?limit=all There is no description or materials information but there is a vegan logo for some products which suggests that products without are not vegan. Also at MooShoes Canvas kicks. Vegan ChicAvesu Madden Girlhttp://www.stevemadden.com/thumbnail/WOMENS/Madden-Girl/pc/-1/c/2163/3236.uts?cm_sp=globalnav-_-womens-_-maddengirl Mostly boots right now. Available at MooShoes Boots, sandals and heels. Also at Alternative Outfitters Maianshttp://maians.es Also at MooShoes Sneakers and peep toe wedges. Malibu Sandalshttp://www.malibusandals.comVegan. "we've combined the ancient craft of Mexican huarache sandal-making with contemporary footwear design and engineering techniques, using cruelty-free materials." "Every pair of Malibu Sandals are made with PETA-Approved Vegan materials." "Every pair of Malibu Sandals are 100% cruelty-free." They partner with the California Wildlife Center and a percentage of their sales is donated. http://www.cawildlife.org Also at MooShoes Mexican huarache weaving. Maraishttp://www.maraisusa.com/collections/vegan "Many of our styles come in vegan materials, because we believe in offering an eco and animal friendly choice (look for the vegan label in our shop!)." Sandals, mules and slides. Also at MooShoes Heels and a boot. Mel by Melissa at Alternative Outfitters Mel Shoesat MooShoes Melissa Shoeshttp://www.melissa.com.br/en/http://shopmelissa.com Roller Joy. I'd be interested in these as an artistic roller skater because I was feeling conflicted about my EDEA boots. Mine are mostly fabric but there are accents of leather which makes me feel guilty all the time. I'm not planning on buying another pair until they are completely worn out. I've been wearing boot covers I made so they are almost like new still. I'm thinking that the Roller Joy are more recreational but it would be great one day to have vegan artistic roller skates exist some day. Designer shoe partners with Vivienne Westwood, Karl Lagerfeld, Jason Wu, J. Maskrey and Campanas. Plastic Dreams. http://www.mdreamsmelissa.shoes There are collaborations with more designers on this site. "Only the most comfortable and 'breathable' types of PVC are used." While they may be animal friendly PVC is not good for the environment. Read more about it here. However their site reads "melissa plastic shoes are made from mono-materials, which means they can be easily disassembled and recycled." "All melissa plastic shoes are created with a zero waste ethos and particular attention to the life cycle of materials. melissa recycles 99.9% of factory water and waste, and they recycle overstock styles into next season's collection." I don't think they need to recycle overstock. They could just sell it online along side newer collections. Maybe not produce as much or produce enough to meet existing orders and not extra or so much extra. "ethically manufactured in Brazil with their signature bubblegum scented recyclable plastic." I can't find what type of glue they use but the site reads "As each melissa shoe is non-leather, they will not degrade in weather or water and are completely suitable for vegans and animal rights supporters." Melissa partners with non-profits and "donates monthly to support local homeless children and pregnant women (as well as massive donations of shoes) and also donates part of its monthly income to developing green urban areas." Melissa is owned by Grendene which produces other footwear brands including Ilhabela which uses leather. Also available at MooShoes and Vegan Chic Merrellhttp://www.merrellaustralia.com.auhttp://www.merrellaustralia.com.au/search/benefits/vegan-friendly?p=1&q=vegan Also at Nice Shoes Sandals and hiking boots. Minkhttp://www.minkshoes.comVegan. "assembled using materials from sustainable resources such as wood, cork, bamboo, non animal glue, vegetable resins, organic and recycled fabrics." High end designer luxury, funky, 70's, lots of platforms, wedges and rock'n'roll biker boots. Also available at Vegan Chic Mixx Shuzhttp://www.mixxshuz.com "Currently Under Maintenance Website will be available soon!" http://www.peta.org/living/fashion/10-shoes-every-vegan-woman/http://www.lulus.com/searchresults?search_in_description=1&q=mixx%20shuz%20vegan Boots and heels. ModClothhttp://www.modcloth.com a store with some vegan shoes, bit difficult to navigate and not sure about glues used, could do with a bit more information. MOHOPhttp://www.mohop.com Have fun styling their interchangeable ribbon sandals in infinite ways. Custom fit by way of providing your foot details with body scanning technology and incorporating 3D printing. I wish the video on their site would mention what type of glue they use. Also the narrator mentions leather straps but since they are supposed to be vegan I'm wondering if he meant faux? He does mention a "faux leather backed by cushion padding is used to make the foot bed" later in the video. In another video on the about page it does state that they use animal friendly glue :) I am allergic to most metals including silver except gold so if the metal rivets were touching the soles of my feet while wearing the shoes it would irritate my skin and I'd have an allergic reaction. Apart from that I was wondering if they are comfortable to stand and walk on top of the rivets and loops? Sandals, clogs, platforms, wedges and heels. "These saree ties are vegan, typically polyester creepe, taffeta, organdy or chiffon." The non-profit they contribute to fund sarees made of silk. It is great to support the women and education and help them out of poverty but keep in mind the non-profit is not vegan. Re: http://www.jhoole.org Silk scarves. MOHOP-49 pairs in one Vegan Chic Mola Shoeshttp://kunaprints.comVegan. The site has an error processing my request but their Facebook page has fairly recent activity. According to their Twitter page "We design wearable-art! One of a kind vegan mola shoes, boots, bags and accessories made out of indigenous Mola, Wayuu and Fique textiles". Molecahttp://www.moleca.com.br/2015_2/en I can't find any information on their site. When I select a product it reads "Dear visitor! Complete the form for more information!"Also at Vegan Style Montrail http://www.montrail.com Also at Nice Shoes Flip flops, sneakers and hiking boots. Mooshoeshttp://www.mooshoes.com A vegan store with lots of different brands. MOVMThttp://thepeoplesmovement.com Sneakers from upcycled plastic bags. Laces are wax treated. The site shows a diagram with a honey comb design so the wax might be bee's wax? Not all shoes state in the description what kind of glue is used. The Marcos uses water based glues. The collaboration with ECOCYCLE doesn't state what kind of glue is used. What kind of wax is the waxed cotton canvas? There is no mention of vegan on the site or social media. Sneakers. Also available at MooShoes and Vegan Chic NAE http://www.nae-vegan.com No Animal Exploitation Vegan. uses pinatex "Ananas Anam has developed an innovative, natural and sustainable non-woven textile called Pinatex made from pineapple leaf fibres." http://www.ananas-anam.com/pinatex/ The biogas is probably methane? Methane is very bad for the environment and contributes to global warming. When plants decompose it produces methane. Since pineapple leaves are a plant the biogas can be methane. What is the process used to go from fibres to fabric and does that involve harsh chemicals? "What is a 'nonwoven' fabric? It is a type of textile produced by forming a net of fibres united by mechanical, thermical and chemical processes". Thus making the statement "To develop new textiles using natural fibres, which are the by-product of the pineapple harvest, thus no extra land, water, fertilizers or chemicals are utilized in its production." untrue. What is the finishing treatment made of? Would creating thread to weave be better than producing a mesh since that does use a chemical process? Although would a woven fabric not produce that leather look that mesh does? To read more about methane click here. Boots, loafers, brogues, sneakers, lace ups and heels. Also available at Vegan Chic Native Shoeshttp://nativeshoes.comVegan. "Our shoes contain no animal by-products". Boots and shoes. Also at MooShoes and Nice Shoes Boots, flip flops and slip ons. Natural Worldhttp://www.naturalworldeco.com/#/home/en Also at Vegan Chic Sneakers. Neon Collectivehttp://www.neoncollective.com An online vegan store. Their site is parked at the moment. Neuaurahttp://www.neuaurashoes.com Is Vegan but there is a link on their site to http://www.reneushoes.com which I am not sure is completely vegan. Reneu states that they use "vegan materials". I can't find any information as to what type of glue they use. One of the press articles on the Reneu site is actually about Neuaura. "Think your footwear is vegan, as long as you eschew leather? Think again. Much of the glue used to keep shoes together is made with gelatin (which can contain animal hooves, bones and skin). Instead, try these vegan options)" "the comfy, classic Neuaura's Naiya flats". Boots, sandals, heels, smoking slippers, flats, sneakers, ballet flats, wedges, loafers, platform wedges and flatforms. Also at MooShoes and Nice Shoes Heels and sandals. Vegan Chic New Balancehttp://newbalance.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/125/~/vegan-shoes "Many of our models are made with synthetic materials. However, please note that we do use different types of glues depending on what is available. Some of our glues will contain animal products as many glues do. Although the shoe may be made of synthetic leather it does not mean it will be completely vegan." http://www.ethicalwares.com/vegan-vegetarian-non-leather-footwear/new-balance-trainers-vegan-leather-free.html Sneakers. Nice Shoeshttps://niceshoes.ca a vegan store featuring lots of different brands. Nicora Johnshttp://nicorashoes.com Boots and Sallys shoe. Vegan. "No part of the supply chain or production process involves the exploitation of humans, animals or the environment." Also available at MooShoes Noahhttp://www.noah-shop.com/en/Vegan. Boots, boat shoes, loafers, sneakers, brogues, lace up shoes, heels ballet flats and sandals. Also at Vegan Style Noharmhttp://noharm.co.ukVegan. Loafers, wingtips, brogues, derbys and boots. Nomadic State of Mind http://www.nomadicstateofmind.com "i like to keep our products animal free". I've been trying to read their site and blog as to what kind of glue they use but can't find what exactly they use. Rope sandals. No Soxhttp://nosoxshoes.com Available at MooShoes Also at Alternative Outfitters Mules. Novacas http://www.novacas.comVegan. "100% PVC-free". Boots, oxfords, brogues, lace up shoes. Also available at MooShoes A good selection to choose from. Vegan Chic Oka-B https://www.oka-b.com No results were returned when I searched for "vegan". There are no materials information in the product details. Jelly shoes. I can't find any information about what kind of glue is used (for insoles and adornments). http://www.oka-b.co.uk "Made from patented Microplast technology which provides a lightweight, flexible shoe that remains comfortable and durable. Microplast's chemical make up is Poly Vinyl Chloride which is actually made from salt ad fossil fuel." "Reflexology-inspired Design". "All of our shoes feature an ergonomic footbed enhanced with massage beads to pamper feet with every step." This site has more materials information but nothing about glues. Also at Vegan Chic Ballet flats, flip flops. And Alternative Outfitters Ballet flats, slingback flats. Olanthehttps://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.olanthe.fr/&prev=search I can't see any shoes on there but their Twitter page reads that is the correct site for the brand. I can only find old blog articles http://www.thefashionamy.com/2013/01/olanthe-les-chasseures-de-provence.html Sneakers. http://www.ecouterre.com/eco-friendly-vegan-shoe-brands/vegan-shoes-olanthe/ Satin heels and flats. https://daweddings.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/olanthe-satin-wedding-shoes/ Available at https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=fi&u=http://www.helunanetti.com/olanthe-sneaker-shoe-black-p-1547.html%3Flanguage%3Dfi&prev=search Sneakers. They were once available at Ethical Wares Olsenhaushttp://www.olsenhaus.comVegan. Heels, ballet flats, oxfords, loafers and boots. Also at MooShoes and Vegan Chic OpificioVhttp://www.opificiov.com/enVegan. They have joined Zero Impact Web Project. "Emissions of www.opificiov.com are compensated with the creations and protection of growing forest in Costa Rica." Heels, boots, sandals, platform wedges, sneakers and oxfords. Also at at Vegan Style Orthaheelhttp://www.schollorthaheel.com.au at Nice Shoes Flip flop wedge. Osiris http://www.osirisshoes.com There is no mention of vegan on the site or social media and there were no search results returned for "vegan". Also at Nice Shoes Sneakers. Peoplehttp://peoplefootwear.comVegan. "Are People shoes vegan? All of our shoes are made from man-made materials - no Bambi's or Babe's (or any other animal) were harmed in the creation of our shoes." There is no mention of what kind of glue is used. Sneakers, boat shoes, slides. Also at Vegan Chic Sneaker. Piccadillyhttp://piccadillyfootwear.comhttp://piccadillyfootwear.com/collections/100-veganVegan. A variety of styles to choose from. "according to international environmental convention, every synthetic upper or polyurethane derived material is treated to initiate a process of deomposition after 4 years, leaving this material biodegradable." I can't stand that. This is part of fast fashion. Why use more resources to produce what we already have? Why do we need to spend more money to replace things? This kind of treated material is not durable. How long would it take to biodegrade without being treated? I don't want my shoe collection biodegrading on me. It only forces us to have to grow and use more water to grow more cotton and use more polyurethane, and produce more waste every four years per pair of shoes. I want to be environmental and encourage others to as well but this doesn't sound like the right way to go about it. Also available at Nice Shoes Heel and a wedge. Pink & PepperTheir website via their Facebook page loads with a forbidden page but they are available at MooShoes Boots. Pop Villagehttp://popvillage.co.uk Descriptions are not in English although the rest of the site is. There is not enough information on the site. Google translate did not help much. Also at Ethical Wares Slip ons. "each Pop plimsoll is made from natural rubber and cotton suitable for Vegans & Vegetarians." Qupidhttp://qupid.com There is no mention of vegan anywhere on the site or social media and no results were returned when I searched "vegan". They use leatherette which is a fabric coated with PVC. "Enclosed back with side zipper closure with leather pull tab" I found that the information for each boot has conflicting information. In the description it can read leather or suede but below in "Material:" it can read Man-made, leatherette.I think we're supposed to take it that leather is actually leatherette but that is not completely clear. It would be better if the same terminology is used throughout so there is no confusion and misunderstandings. It could also mean both leatherette and leather are used just as it says but why would leather not be mentioned in "Materials:"? Also at Alternative Outfitters Regetta Canoe http://www.regettacanoeus.com "Material Upper: synthetic leather, Velcro belt & rubber / Sole: polyurethane". There is no mention of vegan or animal friendly or what kind of glue is used on their site or social media. Also available at Nice Shoes Walking sandals. Report Footwear At Alternative Outfitters Boots and flip flops. Rider Sandalshttps://www.ridersandals.com The site doesn't provide all information as to the materials used. It does provide some information but not enough to make any informed decisions. They use synthetic-leather uppers and faux suede. Also available at Nice Shoes Flip flops. Rocket Doghttp://www.rocketdog.com at Nice Shoes Boots, brogues, Mary Jane, ballet flats and sneakers. Rocus I can't find a website for the brand but they are available at Alternative Outfitters Mens boat shoes and dress shoes. Roni Kantorhttps://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=iw&u=http://www.ronikantor.co.il/&prev=search "vegetarian shoe design". Heels, flats and bridal. Also at MooShoes Sanukhttp://www.sanuk.com/International.htmlhttp://www.sanuk.com/search?q=vegan "If the product is described as vegetarian the textile contains wool, but none of our glues or other components and materials contain any animal ingredients." Slip ons, boat shoes, slippers, sandals, flip flops, sneakers. Also available at Nice Shoes Sandals, flip flops and slip ons. Sauconyhttp://www.saucony.com.au at MooShoes Sneakers. Available at Nice Shoes Simplehttp://simpleshoes.com Also available at Vegan Chic Flip flops. Slowers http://slowers.esVegan. "We don't use any animal materials." Also available at Avesu Sandals, wedges, flatforms, espadrilles, Sodahttp://www.sodashoes.com and Alternative Outfitters. A Fortune Dynamic brand. Sole Runner https://www.sole-runner-shop.com/en/ Also available at Avesu Sneakers, boots, Mary Jane and moccasins. Splaffhttp://www.splaff.comVegan. "All SPLAFF products are vegan !" Flip flops and slides. "authentic, recycled, race car tire sole complimented by recycled bicycle inner tube straps lined with natural hemp fabric. Even the foot bed is made from 100% recycled rubber and foam." "Our fabrics are dyed with low-impact dyes and the cements we use are water based." "SPLAFF fabrics are dyed using fiber-reactive, water-based dyes that do not contain sulfur or other toxic chemicals. Any bleaching of the fabrics that we use is done with peroxide (H2O2, just hydrogen and oxygen) and is far less harmful to the environment than chlorine bleach. SPLAFF has primarily been using water-based adhesives for more than a decade. We never use urethane cements or any toxic chlorination primer treatments. In making this choice, our manufacturing team is provided with a healthy work environment in which no gloves, masks, or ventilators are required." "SPLAFF hangers for displaying its sandals are made from pieces of recycled tire tread that were too small to use for sandal soles. SPLAFF sandals, belts, wallets, and wristbands are bundled together with rubber bands made from pieces of recycled bicycle inner trubes. All of our hang tags are made from 100% recycled papers and printed with eco-friendly inks."Are the inks vegan? Also at Vegan Chic Slides. STChttp://www.stcfootwear.com Supplies mining and tactical/military boots. Also available at Nice Shoes Work boots and safety shoes. STRIKE Movement http://strike-mvmnt.com Not enough materials information. Also at Nice Shoes Sneakers. Sudo Shoes http://www.sudoshoes.com A vegan online store with lots of brands. SugarShoeshttp://www.sugarshoes.co.uk This site doesn't load and I'm not sure if it is the correct site for the brand. Also available at Alternative Outfitters Flats. Supergahttp://www.superga.co.uk Also at MooShoes Canvas sneakers. Sydney Brownhttp://www.sydney-brown.com/en/Vegan. "free of animal products". Wedges, heels, sandals, boots, platforms, smoking slipper loafer, derbys, clogs and slides. http://sydney-brown.com/en/stockists Taxi http://www.taxishoes.ca Also at Nice Shoes Boots and sandals. Tevahttp://www.teva.com Also available at Nice Shoes Sandals flip flops and slip ons. Tigerbear Republikhttp://www.tigerbearrepublik.com The shop is under construction but check out their stockists http://www.tigerbearrepublik.com/#!stockists/c175r Feed. Inspire. Give. Help. Teach program. Their footwear is vegan but I wonder are the items donated vegan? The markers, paint brushes, paint sets, biscuits, diapers and baby formula. There is a bit of information here about non vegan ingredients. On a side note aluminium is not good as it is linked to causing dementia or alzheimer's. The food the SWCDC provides may also not be vegan. Also at Vegan Chic Sneakers, espadrille, sandal and boots. Tretornhttps://www.tretorn.com I can't seem to get past the country selection. http://us.tretorn.com Also at Nice Shoes Boots, boat shoes and sneakers. TOMShttp://www.toms.co.ukhttp://www.toms.com/featured-shops/vegan-styles Trekstahttp://treksta.com at Nice Shoes Hiking boots. T.U.K.http://www.tukshoes.com Creepers, lots of cute animal shoes and combat boots! Union Street "All hand crafted in the UK exclusively for ethicalWARES". Ethical Wares mens desert boots, oxfords and a pair of old school loafers. The site reads "ladies vegan pumps" but there are none on the site right now. Unlistedby Kenneth Cole http://www.kennethcole.com I can't find the Unlisted by Kenneth Cole on the site just leather, suede, merino wool and sting ray leather :( at Nice Shoes Boots, oxfords and a moccasin style. Unstitched Utilitieshttp://www.unstitchedutilities.comVegan. Along with canvas they also use tyvek. "Tyvek is a flashspun high-density polyethylene fiber that is water resistant, highly breathable, extremely durable and very lightweight. Tyvek is vegan-friendly and sustainable, as it is a recyclable material as well." "vegan dyes and glues". "*VEGAN-FRIENDLY*". Sneakers, boat shoes, Vegan ChicUpdate: I read a while back on a pin on pinterest that Tyvek is gmo! VansAtwood http://www.vans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchDisplay?storeId=10153&catalogId=10703&langId=-1&beginIndex=0&searchSource=Q&sType=SimpleSearch&searchTerm=atwood#orderBy=5&beginIndex=0&categoryId=&facet%5B%5D=ads_f12001_ntk_cs%25253A%252522Canvas%252522&facet%5B%5D=ads_f14001_ntk_cs%25253A%252522Footwear%252522 This shoe was recommended in the video below The Everyday Vegan vlogs about vegan shoes (04) - How to find vegan shoes? I also searched for "vegan" on the site http://www.vans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchDisplay?storeId=10153&catalogId=10703&langId=-1&beginIndex=0&searchSource=Q&sType=SimpleSearch&searchTerm=vegan#orderBy=5&beginIndex=0&categoryId= I don't know what kind of glue they use. Vegan Chichttp://www.veganchic.com a vegan store with lots of different brands. Veganline.comhttp://veganline.com "It is a small mail-order firm with shoe buying-skills We don't own a shop or a factory, but have our shoes specially made out of expensive materials, or open wholesale accounts with companies that sell synthetic shoes already." I don't know if those companies sell other shoes that are not vegan. Synthetic shoes might not guarantee that glues used are animal friendly. Boots, sandals, Mary Janes, slippers, clogs, sneakers, flip flops, court shoes and lace ups. Vegan Stylehttp://www.veganstyle.com.au a vegan store with lots of different brands. http://twovegangirls.com.au/post/51094044888/spotlight-on-vegan-style Vegetarian Shoeshttp://www.vegetarian-shoes.co.ukVegan. The Ashley is my fave! Great combat boots and uggs too. Also at Avesu, MooShoes and Vegan Chic Veja http://www.veja-store.com/en/ Available at Avesu Sneakers. Very Volatilehttps://www.volatileusa.com/products.php?cid=75https://www.veryvolatilela.comhttps://www.veryvolatilela.com/?post_type=product&s=vegan and Vegan Chic Cowboy boots. Vibram FiveFingers http://vibram.comThey use kangaroo leather :( Available at Avesu Victoriahttp://www.victoriafootwearusa.com Not every product provides all materials information. There is no mention about animal friendly, vegan or what kind of glue is used. Canvas sneakers, sneakers with heels and slip ons. Available at MooShoes Cotton tennis shoes. Vivobarefoot http://www.vivobarefoot.com/au Available at Avesu Sneakers, gum boots, loafers and ballet flats. Vizzanohttp://www.vizzano.com.br It doesn't look like you can actually purchase from the site but it does have a store locator and online shop directory. Otherwise some styles are available at Vegan Style Vogas Barcelonahttp://www.vogasbarcelona.com My pick is the men's lace ups. Also available at MooShoes Wicked Hemp"designs and sells quality vegan shoes for hiking and walking." "Introducing Wicked Sportif vegan shoes for women.""We will always use materials that are Eco/Animal friendly and low carbon footprint material.""All Wicked Hemp footwear is Vegan!!" Vegan! Theyare shutting down for the moment according to their Facebook page but they are still available at other stores for now including Vegan Chic hiking and walking shoes. Will's at Vegan Chic Loafers, derbys, brogues, monks Wills London Wills Vegan Shoeshttp://wills-vegan-shoes.comVegan. Flats, heels, boots, derbys, wedges, Mary Janes, slingbacks, loafers, brogues, sneakers, sandals, deck and boat shoes, oxfords, monks, hiking shoes and boots. You're So Veganhttp://youresovegan.co.uk a vegan store with a few vegan shoes. Zamberlanhttp://zamberlanusa.com They have a section for hunting :( Also available at Nice Shoes hiking boots. http://www.zappos.com/vegan a store with some vegan options. Zettehttp://www.zetteshoes.comVegan. Pointed toe, metallic gold, silver, bronze and pink. Also available at Vegan Style Zoe & Zachttp://www.summerrayne.net/payless I can't find the brand on the Payless site so this might not be current anymore. https://www.tradesy.com/shoes/zoe-and-zac/?num_per_page=36&sort=relevance Flats and wedges.
"Vegan." refers to 100% vegan brands. These do not include brands which are not 100% vegan but do have some vegan footwear available also. It also does not include vegan brands whose parent company have other non vegan brands and it excludes vegan brands of vegan shops where other non 100% vegan brands are sold. Lastly brands where I could not find enough information were not included. I haven't gone so far as to investigate whether or not the manufacturers are vegan and included that aspect although I do remember reading that some do use vegan manufacturers and others are influencing their and other manufacturers to start making other vegan products. Brands which have a parent company are less likely to be 100% vegan as the parent company's other brands are likely not to be vegan at all. Some parent companies may have more than one vegan brand but that is not to assume that all their brands are vegan. Brands which are 100% vegan are usually independent without a parent company.
Please let me know if I've left anything out and I'll be sure to add it to the list! Please provide the brand or shop name and their website so I can check it out.
I would prefer to deal with cruelty free brands and companies over brands that are not cruelty free but happen to have vegan versions or their parent company has other brands which are not cruelty free. Brands that are not 100 % cruelty free or that have a parent company which are not 100 % cruelty free, their profits from our spending will go to fund the purchase of animal materials for other products, lines, brands and designs despite our ethical purchases. On the other hand we should encourage brands and companies to go more cruelty free right up to the point where they phase out animal materials that have caused suffering and death altogether.
http://www.nomadicstateofmind.com/road-sole/ "that similar of her ache sandals out of Mexico, they use a rubber tire on the bottom; this would fit the recycled desire of my four desires for soling. we cut off some rubber off an old van tire, quite a grueling process; my hands looked like i had been mining coal for the day- which is when i realized how dirty tires were. Not knowing how that would affect some ideals and product integrity i moved forward. i attached the rubber tire with some glue i had; i had started collecting different types of glue to use on the rope to see what would work the best. the first attempt went surprisingly well, or so i thought. at first glance the new sandal seemed ok, a little heavy, and not as flexible, felt more like i had stepped in some of that red Virginia clay mud that doesn’t really come off your shoes and dries hard enough to make an adobe house out of. But still i was using a rubber tire. -oH the cleaning, that was my first big hurdle. i scrubbed the tire for hours, and black dirt just kept reappearing like it never left. i had gotten it clean enough, or so i thought, after a few days the tire started coming off. i realized the problem was from the tire grime. Not a 100% or even close to lightness and/or flexibility, i still wanted to see if it could be done for a back up plan, or for (diy) folks. Contacted a friend who knows a friend who makes a kind of hurache in Mexico to see how the cleaned the tire. i abandoned the project after learned how this was done. One of my largest concerns when either working on a new project or revising an old one is environmental impact. The bath that a company was using to clean tires for glueing was not something i wanted to be part of. the bath of acid would eventually end up in the rivers, therefore eventually ending up in the ocean." "Rubber tire project scrapped for almost 8 years, we revisited it again when working with my friend Jesse on the boot project. the tires on the boots would be sewn and glued, therefore not relying fully on a glue bond. it also matched the weight of the boot well, and flexibility achieved oneness with the boot. And to top it off, we could use a soap and water batch with steel brush cleaning as it didn’t have to be new." Other vegan shoe links http://vegankicks.com http://vegan8.me/vegan-athletic-shoes/
Avoiding leather and other animal products when shopping for shoes or fashion is great and all but there are other factors to consider that maybe some haven't given much thought to, know much or anything about or just don't think about when making a purchase. Life is already hard enough. Leaving it to consumers to do their own research is overwhelming and daunting and probably puts some people off bothering to even begin on the quest of researching. So I hope this blog post and list is able to help you.
This is a bit old so I don't know how relevant it may still be today but we should enquire and make ourselves aware where materials are sourced from so that we don't support corrupt regimes or contribute to anything cruel and destructive. It would be even better if brands were open and had a list where materials were sourced, where the item was manufactured and I mean right down to what manufacturer so we know what building not just the made in so and so country somewhere on the hang tag so as to make informed decisions even easier when shopping. Put that information online (Some brands already do so but not all) so if we don't know if the origins are ok or not we at least know what to look up and investigate.
What new information did Pink etc discover to change their mind and withdraw their support? I haven't seen anything to change my mind. Since it is past 2010 now has mulesing in fact been phased out completely?
As a consumer it is not easy to know where a product's wool has been sourced from. Even if the sheep are not mulesed there is enough cruelty in the above video to put you right off regardless. I'm sure there are some happy happy sheep out there somewhere and treated with compassion right up until they are of no use and slaughtered. Maybe if rarely they might be lucky enough to have real animal lovers where they can live, be sheared and retire in comfort but you would really have to seek individual places like that out and do a lot of research and investigating. So this article is from October 2015 and clearly indicates that mulesing has not been totally phased out. It is still the overwhelming majority. "An alternative to mulesing remains elusive, with liquid nitrogen injections, laser (hair) removal and sodium laurel sulphate on the skin around the breech still under trial." If it's not one thing it's another.
I'm not sure many vegans take into consideration the environmental impacts and toxic chemicals involved in vegan alternatives. To be vegan does it mean that you really can't been green and eco friendly? Does it have to be one or the other? If you are going to help the animal by shearing it why be all high and mighty by purposefully making a point not to use the wool that was sheared? I don't get it. That is just wasteful. It may as well be used I think.
I'd love to be green and environmentally friendly but there are no easy simple or obvious answers and solutions. Not only do I want to research what fabrics I would want to use in my fashion lines but for my own purchases from other brands and helping others. I'm thinking about using second hand/vintage materials such as cotton.
I've read and seen on TV bad things about bamboo fabric in the processing stage and the use of chemicals. http://www.ecouterre.com/how-eco-friendly-is-bamboo-fabric-really/ This just confirms how non eco friendly it is. I don't know how many countless times I see eco and bamboo fabric bandied about and it gets very confusing or easy to just go with what you read or hear because maybe you haven't heard the other side to it. It also feels like people jump on the newest latest trend including fabric trends or maybe they actually want to do the right thing but haven't looked deeper into the process or because there are many down sides to so many types of fabrics it becomes more a case of the lesser of two negatives. Is bamboo fabric marginally better than other fabrics or should it just be a total no go?
I've been thinking of reading up more about hemp. http://www.biofuelswatch.com/organic-clothing-pros-and-cons/
Polyesters and nylons might last longer but they don't breathe as well as cotton and are not suitable for wearing in hot climates or being active in.
Linen looks worth looking into more. Not a lot of negatives aside from wrinkling. Acrylic doesn't look so good so what should a person who is not consuming wool and still wants to be eco use instead? It's a similar situation with silk vs's nylon. Are there any good alternatives? I didn't see any here. Lyocell/tencel is the best of the bad bunch but contributing to deforestation doesn't make it a good substitute.
I really would prefer to use natural materials over toxic chemicals and environmentally damaging synthetics. I'm thinking about sourcing second hand acrylic in future. Since I was thinking about recycled materials for faux leather it's disappointing to hear that recycled PET creates toxic pollution. I wouldn't buy second hand leather because I don't want to wear any animal skins whatsoever. The trouble I think with second hand is that all those items are bought or produced new at one stage, second hand is just another stage along the journey so I feel like it still in a way supports the original initiation of the journey. This is especially so when too much is bought and not used. The rest is waste that has been produced brand new but sold off as second hand. Does this mean that we are producing more than we need and ruining the environment at a faster rate than necessary? Does purchasing this excess support the on going over production? Or is it not over production but a required amount since people are still purchasing the excess but at a reduced price? I'd rather abstain from altogether although on the other hand I hate the concept of waste and do feel like it is better than just being dumped into landfills. Why go to all the bother of allowing the moth to damage the cocoon when they are just being made to suffer and starve to death?!
I love the idea of recycling, preventing things from going to waste, waste management and ultimately reducing waste. I love the feeling of something being special, unique and one of a kind. I'd like to make more than one of a kind though or outsource manufacturing. Maybe small batches could work. Buying something one of a kind I'd totally do and recommend. Recycling plastics would be good to a point. It would be better to turn old into new products rather than create more new plastic. It would be better to have new products that people can enjoy than old plastics littered or dumped somewhere or landfill I would think. But at the end of the day when it gets to the end of its journey and can't be recycled anymore then what? It is going to end up either at a final product or as waste. We just shouldn't contribute any more to that. Once again though don't forget that recycled PET creates toxic pollution so in that case should it just be made into the final end of journey product and leave it at that or just collect and gather it up and store it and not recycle it? The other thing is that by creating products with recycled plastic does that support the ongoing production and use of more plastic bottles and so not really helping the environment at all but creating more toxic pollution? One concern I have about repurposing and upcycling or recycling is the tacky factor, crafty, daggy and not stylish. I want to be kind to the world but I still want to be stylish and look at beautiful things. Respun natural fibres that don't last as long because they've been shredded making the fibres shorter is not as good quality and not as durable. The fabric that is shredded might be put to better use by upcycling them. Maybe shred the offcuts of this that really can't be used for anything else. Or could we maybe not shred but take more time and care to unweave so as to salvage longer fibres?
Soya fibre is the waste from the process of making tofu. It would be great to use since no extra crops would have to be grown but I wonder if it is similar to bamboo and requires harsh chemicals to break the fibres down?
I would be interested in looking more into the history of textiles. Before the days of plastic and synthetics. I feel like we're destroying the planet at an alarming rate at the moment in a lot of areas which we need to reverse. How can we balance more environmentally friendly ways with animal friendly ways?
I don't think I'm such a fan of biodegradable materials. I don't want them degrading when I'm not done with them. So basically I just want shoes in my collection that I love and will want to wear forever. I'd love to live forever but that's another story. But if I can't live forever wouldn't it be cool if some futuristic archeologist found my footwear and babbled on about it. Anyway I wouldn't want something degrading then I feel like that was a piece of crap, throw it out and then have to spend more of my money replacing it. That would use more resources and energy to produce and transport. Better to go with something more durable that lasts longer and is of better quality.
A lot of people have grown addicted to consuming ever more amounts of products and producing more than is sustainable. Cheap throw away items or disposable fashion trends, fast fashion don't help. There is something to be said for Vivienne Westwood's view of buy less.
Buy good quality that lasts, maybe pay a bit more. Choose things that you like and will want to wear for years to come. Don't jump on the newest latest trends. Shop second hand and vintage items. Swap or donate clothes when you get fed up with a particular item so that someone else can enjoy it. Don't cycle through a new wardrobe every season. Choose mostly things that will never go out of style (that includes your own personal style however eccentric it might be). I feel like I sound overly preachy and bossy but you get the point. It's also harder to feel like an individual. How can you express your own individuality if all you're doing is wearing the same thing so many others are wearing. Don't follow trends, buy something because you like it not because someone says this is what everyone else is wearing. http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG10312077/Vivienne-Westwood-Everyone-buys-too-many-clothes.html
