BY DESIGN : Wear and Care : For vegans, back-to-school shopping means label reading and extra effort. But it can also save money.
This fall, it’s what kids don’t buy that counts.
Many teens are phasing out clothes made from animals--from leather boots and wool jackets to silk shirts and pearl earrings--as part of the increasingly popular vegan lifestyle.
Cows are happy, and the animal rights movement is giddy. But for practitioners and parents trying to meet back-to-school wish lists, veganism means extra work and personal sacrifice.
“It can present a problem, I’ll tell you, because it’s hard to go around reading labels to see if a product is animal-tested,” says Vilma Wood of Santa Monica, who does most of the shopping for her 15-year-old daughter, Natasha. “And so many things are leather.”
Many vegans say footwear is the most labor-intensive purchase.
“Shoes are the hardest thing,” says Alexis Poledouris, 18, of Santa Monica, who will attend Reed College in Oregon this fall. “Instead of going to one or two stores, I go to three or five, and I still may not find what I want.”
Poledouris ultimately settled on Jack Purcell canvas tennis shoes ($33.99) from Lady Foot Locker and ordered a pair of combat-style boots ($39) from the Smith & Hawken catalogue ([800] 776-5558). She finished her school shopping with cotton T-shirts from the Gap ($12 to $18), velvet Chinese shoes from Pier 1 Imports (about $9) and man-made belts from Just in Case in Santa Monica.
In lieu of wool sweaters, she plans to pack a Patagonia-style synchilla jacket ($110 at Adventure 16 Outdoor and Travel Outfitters in West Los Angeles). The fleece-like fabric has an added benefit, particularly in the soggy Pacific Northwest. “When it dries, it doesn’t smell like a wet dog,” Poledouris says.
Her mother, Bobbie Poledouris, wears leather and eschews vegetarianism but supports Alexis’ position. “I come from a generation that believes a good pair of leather shoes can’t be replaced,” she says, “but I completely respect her beliefs and it doesn’t bother me to see her wearing velvet shoes to the prom.”
Accepting a vegan lifestyle is not so difficult, other parents say, when it saves money. Being a low-impact consumer is part of the aesthetic, so thrift stores and discount stores dealing in man-made materials are far more attractive than Nordstrom.
“For children, it’s easier to not have leather; it’s cheaper,” says Yaffa Kaplan of West Los Angeles, whose 18-year-old son, Joshua, supports animal rights.
Patty Shenker of Malibu is starting 6-year-old daughter Julia Stoll young.
“It’s really not hard once you discover Payless [Shoes],” she says.
“My daughter knows she dresses somewhat different from her friends, but she hasn’t gotten into the clothes pressure yet,” Shenker says. “When she goes to a store and sees a pair of shoes she likes she asks me, ‘Is this leather?’ I wonder how it’s going to be when she gets older. But if she wants a pair of Doc Martens she’ll have to find someone else to buy them for her.”
With her mother’s approval, Natasha Wood stashed away her old leather belts and adopted a wardrobe consisting mostly of T-shirts emblazoned with animals and cotton pants. When her skin broke out and the doctor prescribed Retin A, Natasha declined to use it after learning it had been tested on animals.
And when her grandmother gave her a wool sweater as a present, Natasha returned it and explained why. “I told my grandmother I didn’t want to wear something that came from a sheep. She respected that.”
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A Sampling of Resources
Stores:
Just In Case (cruelty-free purses, wallets and jewelry), 2718 Main St., Santa Monica; (310) 399-3096.
Purely Grown (organically grown cotton clothes), 401 Oceanfront, Venice; (310) 399-7818.
Urban Outfitters (cotton, canvas and corduroy jackets with fake fur trim), citywide.
The Gap (cotton and natural fiber clothing), citywide.
Standard Brand or Payless shoe stores (affordable canvas and plastic shoes), citywide.
Oshman’s, Big 5, Adventure 16 and other sporting goods stores (cold weather clothing made of synthetic fibers), citywide.
Catalogues
Aesop Inc., P.O. Box 315, North Cambridge, Mass. 02140; (617) 628-8030
Creatureless Comforts, 702 Page St., Stoughton, Mass. 02072; (617) 344-7496
Delia’s, 435 Hudson St., New York, N.Y. 10014; (800) 335-4269
Heartland Products Ltd., P.O. Box 218, Dakota City, Iowa 50529; (800) 441-4692
Smith & Hawken, P.O. Box 6900, Florence, Ky. 41022. (800) 776-3336
