Should vegans really be wearing animal products?

Lola Smith (’21) is a self proclaimed animal rights activist. She has been vegan since fifth grade and she started the Vegan Cooking club at Samo. Smith’s hobbies include gardening, attending climate marches and running her Instagram account (@vegan4theplanet) full of vegan recipes and tips. Smith buys most of her clothing from thrift shops but prefers to buy shoes firsthand. For her 17th birthday, she received a pair of REAL LEATHER black Doc Martens from her mother. “Usually I would be really upset at my mom, but she meant well and the shoes are really cute. I’ve also wanted a pair of Docs for a really long time,” Smith said. Sage Howard (’21) is best friends with Lola Smith. Howard is also a vegan, but Smith is secretly upset that she did not attempt veganism until seventh grade. Howard buys 100% of her wardrobe from second hand stores, including her shoes. Her favorite thrift find is a vintage fur coat she bought at Goodwill. She defends this purchase because she wasn’t contributing to the industry directly.“Have you seen Lady Bird? Yeah well there’s one scene where her vegan brother talks about how he can wear leather jackets as long as they’re vintage. I live by that now, and I think Lola’s a total hypocrite for not thinking that way. I can rest easy knowing that my Doc Martens were bought off of Depop,” Howard said.Witnesses to the drama between the two think that neither of them are right. The rest of the vegans in their friend group stay away from animal products as a whole. “It’s fundamentally wrong for a vegan to wear leather or fur, regardless of where they bought it. They’re both equally ridiculous. If they’re not even eating honey, why the hell do they think it’s okay to wear fur?! I’m not even a vegan and I know better than that,” Charlie Howard (’23), Sage Howard’s younger brother, said.Whether the leather a vegan wears is second hand or not, adamantly refusing to eat animal products while still wearing them is pure hypocrisy. Obviously wearing second hand leather and fur are more sustainable options, but vegans wearing any type of animal product goes against the belief system which the lifestyle was built upon.