Hey everyone, welcome to the first installation of Vegan Styx, a comic strip created by my good friend the Iconoclast. I am very excited to showcase this hilarious and vegan-centric strip. Check it! [click picture for full size]
I saw this book in a random store the other day and I immediately thought how fantastic it would be to be able to not only customize each color of a sneaker, but pick the materials too! Oh, what wonderful vegan combinations we could come up with: pleather, chambray, denim, or plain old canvas. Wouldn’t that be sooo nice…
Hello everyone! Sorry I was AWOL for so long. I took a little time off, and escaped to the great state of Vermont. I love Vermont. If you haven’t gone, you should go. It’s beautiful in the summertime. I’ve only gone up there during winter, and it can feel a little desolate. But it’s absolutely gorgeous when it’s warm. And I’d also highly recommend making a stop in Burlington. For such a small city, it packs a significant punch in the culture and food department. Plus, they have some good shops there too, most of them locally and independently owned. They even have an all hemp store called The Hempest. I know some of you would get a kick out of that.
But onto today’s topic. Every now and then I remember that I need to give a shout to Keep. They’re easy to forget sometimes, they like to maintain a low profile. They don’t seem to be on the radar of many a sneaker head, but why I have no clue. They continually put out dope product. Case in point, The Homer. This classic plimsoll is made with Japanese milled fabrics, and also features a French terry lining and insole. As with all Keep sneaks, the Homer comes in a variety of colors and patterns. My favorite has to be the Southwest/American Indian influenced brown black and red combo. Props for keeping it simple as well, with the plain red and blue colors.
The Homer, available at Keep. More pics after the jump!
Hey guys, I won’t be here for the next week or so – I’m going on vacation, bitches! Sunny and warm St. Lucia, here I come! I know you readers out there are so upset that you won’t be getting my twice or thrice a week postings of random non-leather shoes. But I think you will survive.
Here’s a little postcard:
Jealous? See you all in a week! Here are some pics from my trip I uploaded to Flickr. Enjoy!
Yeah, Vegan Kicks is moving beyond kicks. We weren’t planning on branching out. It just happened. Sometimes we see something nice and want to put it on the blog, but it’s not wearable on your feet. We’re hoping we can change that and still keep the site as focused as possible. We will be sticking to clothing – the whole food thing, and animal rights advocacy aspect is being done a thousand times better than I can ever do it. So we’ll stick to posting about things you can buy to impress your friends with unique, yet ethical fashion sensibilities.
Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t really been updating. I’m away right now in sunny Los Angeles visiting my family for a few days. We are celebrating my Grandmother’s 106th Birthday! Amazing. I’ll be here for a few more days, so I’ll try to update as soon as I get back next week. Peace, errbody!
-Henry
A few posts ago, I wrote about Asics. I began with “when you’re an ethical shopper…“ I presumed, glibly, that I was being truthful. However, one of my readers pointed out – quite correctly – that I missed something big. He noted that while these shoes were not made out of animals, it was made BY someone who was likely exploited in order to bring us an artificially low-priced product (with the true costs hidden). How true, and how irresponsible of me. I admit, these issues – labor, environmental, etc. – have thus far been missing from the discussion in this blog. I limit my “content” to the subject matter bearing the title of this site, i.e. vegan products. Largely unexplored are the various ethical and moral implications inherent in today’s globalized garment industry. I ignore facts such as unsafe factories, mistreatment, sexual harassment, unfair wages, child labor… the list goes on. On top of this, I paid no attention to the havoc wreaked on the environment, from the manufacture of synthetic leather, to the pesticides poured on cotton to make the canvas. I can hardly pat myself on the back for being an “ethical consumer” without at least acknowledging these omissions.
This certainly has to change. I freely admit that I have not been actively seeking out and promoting socially and environmentally conscious businesses. I just see something cool, and if it’s not made out of leather, that’s been good enough for me. Clearly, I must make more of an effort to promote more responsible companies… starting tomorrow with Jinga (thanks Nick!).
Thanks again to you readers who’ve been reading, commenting, and keeping me on my toes. This is an experiment. I’m not sure where this is going, but it will be you, the reader, that will largely steer this ship with your ideas and feedback. Thanks for keeping this interesting!
- Henry
p.s. the title of this post is not implying that any of you guys are NOT socially conscious!
Hey everyone, last week I posted a picture of my “vegan” Converse Chuck Taylors and I asked some of you to send me some pics of yours. Well, a few of you kindly obliged, and here they are!
Here is Jasper, rocking some Converse Chuck Taylor in black navy. Notice how much more stylish they are than mine due to the awesome yet almost incomprehensible lacing pattern he has devised. Kudos! Also, check out his excellent blog and you’ll see some amazing artwork and beautiful photographs (I love these kittens!).
This is my man Petrus, lounging in central Stockholm (that is in Sweden for all you uncouth Americans), sporting the Habitat Ibex. Just one word – lovely. This is where you live??? I heard it’s cold there but damn, spring and summer must be gorgeous.
KEEP SENDING PICTURES MY WAY!
Just wanted to share with you guys something a little more personal. I mean, it’s only fitting that a vegan/vegetarian shoe blogger would reveal what is in his own stash sooner or later right? So here’s one of my all time faves: the Converse Chuck Taylor low top in cream (picture me rollin’, uh, in my backyard). Yeah, it’s obvious. But they never go out of style. I got hooked on these circa 2004, in my post-Dunk era. Cream was and is my favorite color, and I always thought the white would get dirty too easy. I also rocked a bright red pair that I had to abandon a little while ago. Despite the Wizard of Oz jokes that came my way, I always got a lot of compliments, and they stood out. But yeah, these pair are so classic. Look how dirty they are. It’s like the more beat down and worn out they get, the sweeter they become. I wish I could post a link to some right now, but I couldn’t find any!
ALSO, I would like to take this opportunity to ask you guys to send me pics of YOUR VEGAN KICKS. Yes, I know some of you would like to share, and it’d be great to see what you guys are sporting these days. Please email them to me, or share on Facebook, or Twitpic or whatever. Holler at your boy!
*I know Converse are not vegan. I actually bought these before I found that out, but I admit that I still wear them and still like them. But I probably won’t buy a pair of Converse again until I know that they make 100% animal free shoes. In the meantime, there are plenty of fresh kicks to go to, more than I’ll ever need, right on this blog.
For Earth Day, I am going to post nothing about shoes. I was originally going to write something on “eco-friendly” kicks or some crap like that, but I realized I would be keeping it more real if I just spread the message of “JUST STOP SHOPPING FOR ONE DAY IN OUR LIVES.” Don’t get me wrong, I love buying crap as much as the next person, and I love a fresh pair of kicks. I wouldn’t have this blog if neither of those things were true. But let us look at ourselves for a minute. It is undisputed that the earth would be better off if we consumed less. You could buy a Prius, and feel all happy that you’re “green,” but really, you would be more green if you bought a used car or didn’t buy a car at all! Similarly, you can feel “responsible” by buying Simple shoes made out of recycled curtains or whatever, but at least some of those materials had to be dug up at some destitute nation, manufactured in some environmentally damaging way, and flown halfway around the world, then mailed to the store or to your house, those vehicles spewing greenhouse gases all the while and creating a waste stream that will last until after we all die. Whew…
