Friday, June 5, 2009

Vegan Shoe Shopping: Olsen Haus

I'm the cheapest girl I know when it comes to clothing. I cringe at a 20$ t-shirt. Anything over 40$ for a pair of jeans is just out of the question. My favorite jeans are the 2 for 50$ at PacSun. The cardigan I'm wearing now was 10$. I'm wearing bagged underwear from Wal-mart. I won't lie -- I rock the target clothing. And I'm sad to say, even their prices are too much for me sometimes.

When I met Andrew, he got me into American Apparel. It took me a minute to get used to buying 40$ cotton t-shirts. The thing that gets me is that I'm paying for a cruelty free shirt-- no humans were demoralized in the making of that shirt. I always find myself crawling back to my old favorites, though.

And since becoming vegan, I notice it's harder to shop at those cheap places I once loved. I find an amazing pair of shoes and pray as I search for the label, hoping to read "man-made materials". The good ones are always leather, though.

So, when I found Olsen Haus, a pure vegan online shoe store, I was sooo excited. Finally shoes that look cool without skinning a cow [[and no, they're not the same cows you eat, for you delusional meat eaters out there]]. AND THEN, I found these super edgy, paint splattered pair of green wedges.

I don't even want to talk about them, I'm so upset. Who would pay 175$ for a pair of shoes? It's outrageous. I could buy them, but it just feels wrong. Where is this haven of cheap, vegan shoes that don't look like something my grandma would wear?

HOWEVER, Haus is pretty cool and very into spreading vegan awareness. Their website includes a bit entitled "the 'truth' about animals" [[You should TOTALLY look at that link. It's the coolest thing I've seen. A clever way to show the truth about your clothing.]] . I'd almost consider buying their shoes a donation to a cause. For now, I'm just longing for them from afar until I mustar up the courage to buy them... maybe.

3 comments:

Andrew Warner said...

wah wah.

just buy them pansy.

Angela said...

You can find pretty good deals on vegan shoes Alternative Outfitters and sometimes on Mooshoes. I've even found some things from Zappos using the 'vegetarian' shoes filter in the search options. And of course, there's always Payless, which has actually just released a line of 'eco-friendly' shoes (http://earthfirst.com/summer-rayne-oakes-and-payless-launch-eco-shoes/).
But in general, like you said, there are a lot of hidden costs in places like Payless, both to the environment and to the people making them. I would rather buy from thrift stores or save up and shell out the big bucks for more ethically made ones if possible. Good luck!

Unknown said...

Thanks Angela -- you're right, there are some amazing alternatives.

I'm just sort of in love with these ones for one reason or another. :) And come from an amazing company that also supports sustainability.