I try to avoid buying shoes made of leather, or pillows stuffed with feathers, etc. I own one leather belt that I inherited, but I hardly ever wear it.

Most tennis shoes today are a knitted “sock” glued to a plastic foam sole. Dress shoes made of man-made materials can be found at places like Target. So it’s gotten easier to buy shoes.

We don’t buy new animal products, we still own some items from pre-vegan days. It would be wasteful, and harm the planet, to toss them out and have another manufactured product take their place.

Where possible we have given away or donated. But I still have a pair of Doc Matens that I bought at a thrift store a long time ago.

I also have a pair of synthetic leather dress shoes, but the veneer shine layer of the “leather” pealed off in random places after a few uses, exposing the fuzzy substrate. So much for innovation. Lol.

As a side note: we struggled to find pillows that matched comfort of feathers so we endured some terrible memory foam and poly filled pillows till we stumbled on Beednova Premium Hotel Down Alternative Pillows (on Amazon.) They have been amazing. They will flatten out for back or front sleeping, or you can squish/fluff them for head support when side sleeping.