Leather Shoes ??

[Guest guest]

I am very skeptical about wearing leather shoes especially since I am in the corporate world. I somehow manage to wear a balck canvas shoe that looks like a formal leather shoe. Around me I see even some devotees wear leather shoes. I cannot stand the fact that these shoes are made from cow's skin that are specifically killed for flesh and skin.

 

Could some devotees give some alternative to wearing leather shoes/leather belts/leather bags and other such animal products since by simply buying a leather shoe/belt/bag one contributes to the sin of killing a cow. As I am trying to follow Bhagavad-gita and the teachings of Srila Prabhupada in my life I am strictly against any form of animal killing for one's own self-aggrandizement. Hare Krishna!

 

namo brahmanya devaya go brahmana hitayaca jagad hitaya krisnaya govindaya namo namah

[Kulapavana 0]

if you feel that strongly about leather you are limited to canvas or synthetic shoes. some of the new synthetic materials are very good (breathable).

 

cows are really killed for their meat. hides are just a by-product. it is hard to avoid some problems when you live in this world. if you walk serving Krishna in leather shoes the karma should be minimal /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[theist 1]

There is a product called pleather. It looks like leather but is not. I'll try to find a site for you to get you started.

 

Leather is a product of violence. Why should we further enrich the scum cow killers? It sets a bad example as well.

[theist 1]

www.cowsarecool.com

 

If you scroll down towards the bottom of the page on the right you will find links to several shoe stores that sell pleather shoes on-line.

 

Here is also a short statemnt from that site.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH LEATHER?

Leather may be made from cows, pigs, goats, and sheep; exotic animals like alligators, ostriches, and kangaroos; and even dogs and cats, who are slaughtered for their meat and skins in China, which exports their skins around the world. Since leather is normally not labeled, you never really know where (or whom) it came from.

 

Most of the millions of animals slaughtered for their skin endure the horrors of factory farming before being shipped to slaughter, where many are skinned alive. Buying leather directly contributes to factory farms and slaughterhouses since skin is the most economically important byproduct of the meat-packing industry. Leather is also no friend of the environment since it shares all the environmental destruction of the meat industry, in addition to the toxins used in tanning.

 

With every pair of leather shoes that you buy, you sentence an animal to a lifetime of suffering. Instead, you can choose from hundreds of styles of nonleather shoes, clothing, belts, bags, and wallets. Fashion should be fun, not fatal! Read more about the cruelty of the leather industry.

 

mooooHare Krsna

[theist 1]

In the past some cow would naturally die and their skins used for shoes and drum heads etc. That is not the case today. So it's not the act of wearing leather that is wrong, it is the support of the slaughter industry and the example that those shoes set that is best to avoid.

 

We have alternatives so what would be the reason we don't take advantage of those alternatives?

 

 

conv. London July 31,1972

 

Ian Polsen: There is another question, Your Grace. I wear leather shoes, and I know they come from animals...

Prabhupäda: Huh?

Ian Polsen: ...which have been slaughtered for this. Should I stop wearing leather shoes?

Prabhupäda: Well, that also you can continue. That is not... Just like we are using so many things made of skin. But as far as possible, you avoid. There are many shoes without skin, nowadays they are available. First of all try to understand the philosophy. It is very nice attitude that you have. What salary you are getting, government service?

 

 

So from this I take it we should not make it a major issue when talking to someone but rather stay focused on transmitting the philosophy.

 

But now animal rights folks are beginning to challenge devotees on why they wear leather while speaking of cow protection. There is no good answer.

[stonehearted 0]

Govinda dasi once told me the Srila Prabhupada said that there's one good thing about Kali-yuga (aside from sankirtan): that they have figured out how to make shoes without leather. The technology for this has advanced greatly in the years since his comment. This is due in large part to increasing demand. If the demand for leather shoes, belts bags, etc. declines, their production will also decline.

 

I believe it's best to avoid leather if at all possible. No one in my family wears any leather, except me, when I can't find good alternatives. Sometimes I can find acceptable shoes at Payless, but I haven't seen any suitable for professional wear for at least three years. And the trouble with the many businesses that sell alternatives (some of the best have disappeared, alas) is that they are all mail-order or internet businesses. I need to try a pair of shoes on before I buy them, to see how they fit and how they look with the clothes I wear to work. I used to have a problem (many years ago) finding running shoes without leather; now almost all are made with synthetic materials (yay!). But shoes for work are still a hit-and-miss thing for me, especially since I live in a small, isolated community.

[gHari 0]

On the net a few years back, I found some like $80US super-duper dress shoes manufactured from man-made materials. I never was embarrassed enough to follow up on buying them though.

 

[paul108 0]

I've bought vegetarian steel-toe work boots from this site, as well as a variety of other things (belts, etc.)

 

http://www.veganstore.com/index-store.html

 

They've got a lot of nice stuff, including office shoes.

 

Hare Krishna

Pandu das

 

[stonehearted 0]

Nice site; nice products. But the prices--ouch!

[theist 1]

I have long wanted to do a veagn store. Food and other products pure vegan. But since I am mostly a lazy dreamer I don't expect it to manifest anytime soon.

 

Good oppurtunity for a devotee business though. Especially here in Berkeley where even the best markets also sell meat. I hate giving them any $buckaroos$, I just hate it.

 

Such a store would do soooo well here.

 

Any doers out there?