New to veganism, old non-vegan stuff...?

Question

Hello, I just switched to veganism this past week( I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian for a year and a half first) and a few of my favorite personal items aren't quite vegan-y. I have three pairs of very old and comfy worn-in sandals that I rotate wearing if the outside temperature happens to be 36ºf or above, I HATE wearing shoes and socks... I also have four hand carved hair uh.. spike-things, three seem to be horn, and the fourth is bone... I'm very fond of these items, I have no other sandals, and the stick things are so very pretty...

If I were to go to a store now, and saw any of these things made of the same materials I would not even consider them.

I'm not sure what to do...

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Use the sandals until they ware out, but give away that horn and bone jewelery. A vegan shouldn't decorate herself with parts of a dead animal, but the sandals aren't decoration.

Just my two cents anyway.

Answer 2

they're already purchased you should keep using them.  what good does it do to throw them out or give them away and have to buy new items?  you already have them, use them.

Answer 3

I think you need to keep using these items.  If you bought them, you need to make the most of them especially if they came from an animal.  The point of vegan ism is to respect animals and the life of an animal.  So use them until they're unusable out of respect for the creature.

I can't stand it when my mom throws away her leather purses and I have to take them because I feel bad that the animal is not being used or respected.  

Just don't buy these products.

Answer 4

I agree with the above answer. I was vegetarian for 15 years before turning "officially" vegan 2 years ago and it was something of a debate for me what to do with items I owned that were made of wool or leather such as shoes or coats- expensive non easily recycled items like carpets can't just be ripped out and wasted for example! That would be ridiculous! It would be far worse to throw away such things than to use them to the end of their lifespan and simply never buy those products again in the future. Things that bothered me particularly (leftover leather products) I gave to charity shops to be reused, but not until such time as I could afford to replace them. I wore leather shoes for a while after I was vegan, I simply didn't buy it, even the Vegan Society says it is up to the individual and their finances whether or not they choose to rid themselves of past buys immediately.

If you wouldn't buy such things again, you are not supporting the industry any more or less than you would be regardless of whether you carry on using the items you own. So don't feel guilty about it. It's the purchases you choose to make from now on that are the matter in question, not the ones you made in the past.