I am so excited! Sometimes I have these blonde moments when things are so obvious, but they just take some time to penetrate my skull. :doh:

Anyway, yesterday I was in the mall shopping for shoes. A major department store was having a big sale, and let me tell you it was a GREAT sale. However, I quickly became depressed and torn looking at all of these gorgeous shoes, marked down to crazy prices, and LEATHER, of course! I promised myself I would stop buying animal products when at all possible. Being the shoe enthusiast that so many of us girls are, this was a sure moment of weakness!

I remembered there was this el cheapo shoe store just a few doors down out in the mall. And then it dawned on me....these el cheapo shoe stores are cheap because their shoes are made with man-made materials in an attempt to knock off the high fashion looks. Historically, I would stay away from this one particular el cheapo store because most of their stuff was usually tacky looking. But yesterday, I decided to give it a shot before I gave in to the department store's allures!

I am so glad I did!! Not only the el cheapo store actually have some VERY cute shoes, their bargain basement prices were slashed further....I got 4 pairs of shoes for $65! And you would never, never know (unless you are one of those shoe snobs that inspect the soles of people's feet) that these shoes came from the el cheapo joint. Cheap, stylish, and VEGAN!

I am so happy! :hamster: And for those of you who are like me and might not have thought it before now, practically every mall has an el cheapo shoe store from which YOU can find stylish, vegan shoes!

You are so lucky. I work in a fancy schmancy mall and there are no cheap shoe stores there. I don't know if this is a SoCal thing but there are not very many cheap shoe stores that don't sell leather shoes. I have only been veggie for a short time but shoes are my biggest worry. I have not had any trouble with the meat thing yet. Most of my posts on these boards are about shoes. However your post gives me hope. I'll have to take my shoe shopping beyond my usual types of places. If you didn't have to give up fashion for compassion maybe I won't have to either. :sunny:

Lucky! I have yet to find any exciting vegan shoes. :( And I love funky shoes, so this is a rather hard thing for me. I haven't broken down yet, though, so that's something. I'll keep trying. :)

so all you have to worry about is the kids earning 2 cents a day in a sweatshop making those 'el cheapo' shoes

Glad to hear you had such good luck. :)
I've found lots of cool shoes since going vegan. Sometimes it takes a little extra searching, but it's worth it. With the exception of my New Balance and one pair of Nine West boots, all of my shoes come from the cheaper stores or clearance racks.

This is part of the reason I'm not a vegan, because I have leather shoes. It's a shame, but I find it really hard to find COMFORTABLE shoes that look presentable. I have one pair of work/dress shoes that are not leather, and I love those, but for casual shoes, such as loafers, I can't seem to find anything that doesn't kill (ouch!) my feet. I think my walking/jogging shoes are leather-free. Most of the vegan websites that say they have shoes have athletic-looking shoes, and I need dress and casual.

Any suggestions? I'm sorry this is so long and boring. :)

This is part of the reason I'm not a vegan, because I have leather shoes. It's a shame, but I find it really hard to find COMFORTABLE shoes that look presentable. I have one pair of work/dress shoes that are not leather, and I love those, but for casual shoes, such as loafers, I can't seem to find anything that doesn't kill (ouch!) my feet. I think my walking/jogging shoes are leather-free. Most of the vegan websites that say they have shoes have athletic-looking shoes, and I need dress and casual.

Any suggestions? I'm sorry this is so long and boring. :)


look for some hemp shoes. I think the Trailblazers (http://www.grassrootsnaturalgoods.com/footwear/046.html) are pretty nice and casual with out looking sporty. These might be nice also: Dockers (http://www.rawganique.com/FootwearDock.htm) or a more leathery look: New Decker (http://www.pangeaveg.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant2/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=Pangea&Product_Code=927-new&Category_Code=01s-mensdress)

so all you have to worry about is the kids earning 2 cents a day in a sweatshop making those 'el cheapo' shoes

As you must worry about that with your clothes.

with everything basically.

I was just at Nordstrom's, and I was amazed at their selection of non-leather shoes. They had lots of boots and dress shoes...and they had a huge sale going on. I would have bought some, but I'm sure most of you know how women get at big shoe sales...it was a mess and I didn't feel like fighting through the crowd. Check out their website, I admit it's not cheap, but they have presentable and in-fashion veg shoes.

I thought Payless were vegan.

Actually, there are LOADS of fun nonleather shoes available now, in all price ranges. When I stopped eating beef about 16 years ago, I also stopped wearing leather. The shoes were the hardest part of becoming vegetarian; the only nonleather shoes available at that time were the cheap pumps. :( During the last few years, there's been an explosion of microfiber and other nonleather shoes. I've gone wild, after all of those shoe-parched years. :D