Hey everyone, I’m currently transitioning to veganism and, especially, I’m trying to rethink the way I buy clothes. I’ve already decided that I don’t want to buy new leather, wool, fur, etc. because I don’t want to financially support industries that exploit animals. I also don’t want to support fast fashion, so I’ve been buying a lot of my clothes second-hand.
But I’ve started wondering about something that I’m honestly not sure how to feel about: is buying/using leather or wool second-hand still compatible with veganism?
On one hand, the animal product has already been produced, the animal obviously isn’t being exploited because I’m buying that specific item, and buying it second-hand means I’m not giving money directly to the original company or contributing to new production. In some cases, it could even mean keeping an existing item in use instead of buying a new synthetic one. On the other hand, I’m becoming vegan for ethical/antispeciesist reasons, and there’s something that feels contradictory about continuing to wear animal-derived materials, even if they’re second-hand. I also wonder whether buying them contributes, even indirectly, to normalising the idea that leather/wool are desirable or acceptable materials.
I’d really like to hear how other vegans think about this, especially people who also try to avoid fast fashion and buy most of their clothes second-hand.
Where do you personally draw the line with second-hand leather/wool? And do you think there’s an ethical difference between buying these items second-hand and simply continuing to wear something you already owned before becoming vegan?