Hiking Boots

[YankeyMCC]

Hello, looking for some clothing advice.

I am not vegan, I do follow a vegetarian diet and often eat vegan meals. I am an avid hiker and in fact when I my pre-packaged, just add water, food for backpack trips I usually get the vegan versions of the meals (http://www.backcountryfood.com/shop/default.asp - they have a really excellent chili). Anyway the point is the boots I purchased several years ago before I started following a vegetarian diet and making more mindful, less harmful choices in all the things I purchase are due for replacement.

So I'm looking for advice for finding good quality hiking boots that met general vegan standards if such a product exists. Hopefully there's some other vegan hikers here.

[yewberry]

1. I've had good luck with Garmont.

http://www.garmontusa.com/881052212.html

[catgirl]

2. Buy used

I bought a pair of vegan Garmont hiking boots several years ago. Unfortunately, I realized
after-the-fact, that they won't biodegrade for thousands of years. Being a lover of the
Earth, I feel bad about this.

A friend I met that year gave me a good idea. She buys used leather boots at consignment
stores. Since then, I have accepted leather shoes from friends who were going to throw
them away (they were perfectly fine shoes).

I realize the hiking boots I bought will probably still be wearable long after I am gone-
they are very durable, but I don't recommend buying them unless the material used has
become eco-friendly.

Hope that helps!

[LeftyMom]

3. This promotes the idea that animal products are ours to use.

It also confuses the hell out of omnis who see professed vegans using non-vegan things, and makes life more difficult for vegans who do not, and causes them to see them as being needlessly picky instead of just being, well, vegans.

Anyhow, many vegan shoe (accessory, etc) companies are making a point to work in more ecological materials. And leather is an ecological disaster- the chemicals used to process it are quite nasty, for one thing.

[Chan790]

4. Absolutely on all of the above.

Leather production is ounce-for-ounce one of the dirtiest things mankind does...an entire process of one caustic agent after another after another. A corporation today proposing any new manufacturing process as polluting and filthy as leather-making would receive a warning letter from the EPA if not be barred from working altogether. It's tradition and basically being grandfathered past environmental standards that keeps leather off the trash-heap of history.

One point that you did not mention is that supporting animal-friendly industries with our purchases both encourages mainstream manufacturers to roll out more animal-friendly products and makes continued existence viable for manufacturers and retailers of animal-friendly products. While I certainly could go out and buy second-hand leather goods, doing so would likely put both the place I frequently buy shoes, boots and accessories (MooShoes in NYC) and the place I buy foodstuffs and occasionally clothing (Pangea here in MD) out of business.

[catgirl]

5. For all it's worth

I got my hiking non-earth friendly boots at Moo Shoes.

I don't buy any leather products. I have a pair of boots that look like leather and I tell people they aren't
leather. Anyway, I'd rather grab a pair of shoes heading for a landfill and either wear them, or pass them on
(the latter is usually the case).

[catgirl]

6. No it doesn't promote such an idea

You're missing the point.

[nankerphelge]

7. We bought boots from...

La Sportiva that were all non-leather. They are mountain climbing boots though and I'm not sure that all of their boots qualify. We've gotten some cheap ones from Target just recently. A few years ago, there was an issue of Backpacker magazine that ranked a number of hiking boots and it listed the materials they were made out of... I know I still have it somewhere.