Monday, August 8, 2011

Mainstream Vegan

A couple companies that I am a fan of have recently come out with vegan collections! The first is Free People's Vegan Leather collection. Honestly, I probably would never wear most of these items because even pre-vegan I was never a huge fan of big leather pieces. I do like the shorts and I think I'm digging the pullover with the random leather sleeves. Too soon to call though. I may just be trying to talk myself into it which I have an weird tendency to do with awkward items of clothing. Either way, I don't think I'll be dropping $98 on a shirt or shorts anytime soon. But if you have money laying around and need leather sleeves more power to ya! Stay the fuck away from that jacket though, they put wool in the lining. Wool in a jacket that is part of a VEGAN collection. Sigh. While it's nice when bigger companies try to jump on the vegan bandwagon for a hot second, this is exactly why 100% vegan companies deserve as much of our business as possible. Especially if you are lazy and don't like reading fine print.






                                           NO.  
                                           
















The other company bustin' out with some vegan awesomeness is Jeffrey Campbell. I LOVE Jeffrey Campbell shoes. Mostly for inspiration since the majority of their footwear is leather, leather, and more leather, but every once in a while they have some accidentally vegan styles that are amazing. JC is teaming up with Convert, a eco-friendly store in Berkeley to do this exclusive collaboration. The vegan line comes out early fall, but it's unclear whether the shoes will only be available at the physical store location or if they will be able to be purchased online as well. I like the "99 Tie" style, but I'm really swooning over the "Vita," a vegan version of the popular "Lita" style. 


99 Tie

Rockin'

Mention pewter

Mention python

Vita
Not to be a buzzkill (psh I'm totally going to be a buzzkill!), but I was kind of expecting more from both of these companies just because I'm such a huge fan of their "regular" lines. I think the leather jacket from Free People would have been the most wearable item in their collection, but then they went and put wool in it like a bunch of crazies. I do love the Vita from JC/Convert, but the rest of it fell a little flat for me. If Jeffrey Campbell is doing an exclusively vegan collection, I want cray-cray, nuts-o, beautiful shoes that look like they belong right up there with his normal line and just happen to be vegan. It's easy to find vegan flats. That said, I'm still super-duper excited these lines are coming from such popular mainstream companies. Hopefully they continue to do capsule vegan collections every season (minus the wool A-HEM)!