Skip to content

Archive for July, 2009

14
Jul

Cruelty-Free: Pocket Guides

To round out this “Baker’s Dozen” blog series on cruelty-free favorites, some additional resources for you to use on your own. A pocket guide is good to have on hand as you go through your day-to-day and become more familiar with companies’ animal-testing policies. The web sites listed below give you a choice of ordering one or multiple guides to be mailed to you, or downloading the guide in pdf format. I’ve included the URL addresses that will take you straight to the guides in downloadable form.  Print out, fold, and tuck right into your wallet!

I leave you for now with the following thought: Making more animal-friendly choices when it comes to your everyday products can be an adventure… without driving yourself (and everyone around you) crazy. Changing just one item in your household to a product that is cruelty-free is all it takes to begin. And as you discover new products, cruelty-free favorites of your own, I encourage you to share your finds with family and friends.

Check back with me mid-October before you buy all the Halloween candy!  I’ll be posting a blog with suggestions for cruelty-free sweets and treats.

11
Jul

Cruelty-Free: What About Wool?

I’ve had two friends on separate occasions ask me about wool when we’ve been on the subject of cruelty-free choices, so it seems a worthy topic for the third peek this week into my closet.  When I first looked into wool about a year ago, I was a bit daunted.  Most suggestions I found had to do with staying away from big commercial companies and buying products from people who have their own sheep.  I don’t know anyone who owns her own sheep, so I skipped to the next suggested step I could find, which had more to do with what not to buy. 
 
Merino wool comes from Merino sheep. Unfortunately, the myriad folds in their skin become a festering ground for moisture and flystrike disease.  Consequently, Merino sheep are subjected to a practice called mulesing, which is a lot more painful than ordinary shearing.  Think Shylock in Merchant of Venice.  For those of you who need to brush up on your Shakespeare, think pound of flesh.  Yes.  It’s a nasty business.  Largely, it’s Australia that practices mulesing; therefore, avoiding any purchases of Merino wool coming from Australia is a good first step.  It’s a step companies are making as well as individual consumers: H & M, Perry Ellis, Hugo Boss, and Adidas are just some of the big names that have pledged to refrain from buying Australia’s Merino wool.  Celebs like Pink and Joaquin Phoenix (in a moment of clarity) also have been making some noise for the cause. 
 
What about cashmere?  Admittedly, I’ve always loved cashmere sweaters… on me or anyone else.  So the question is whether or not the cashmere goats fare any better than our Merino friends.  There’s no mulesing involved, so that’s a plus.  And shearing, similar to shaving, doesn’t seem so bad… does it?  Well, there is the question of what happens to the goats who don’t quite make the grade — which is over half of them, by the way — and to the goats when they get old.  And there’s the question of how the young and aesthetically-pleasing goats are treated while they’re generating wool for us.  In such a poorly-regulated industry, it’s difficult to guarantee that the goats are being treated humanely, even the productive ones.  So, while I haven’t gone to the extreme of eliminating all my sweaters from the closet and starting from scratch, I’m looking for alternatives for any future purchases.
 
While we’re on the subject of luxury fabrics, let me say something about silk, which I’m sure many of you are wondering about anyway.  I think most of us know silk comes from the cocoon-threads spun by silkworms (actually closer to caterpillars than worms).  What I didn’t know until today — I’m still aghast — is that these cocoons are boiled while the silkworms are still in them!  I know we all love silky things, but I couldn’t not share with you what I just learned today.  Do with the info what you will.
 
So what are our options when it comes to cruelty-free fabrics?   The best news is that there are many, many options.  Because of the expanding eco-consciousness, textiles are available now that weren’t around just five years ago; and many of them also happen to be cruelty-free, such as Tencil and Polartec.  Other animal-friendly fabrics to look for are those derived from hemp, organic cotton, soy, corn, and — my favorite — bamboo.  While investigating, I also found  a few mentions of banana fiber, though I haven’t experienced this fabric personally yet.  Are these products pricey?  They can be.  But the Diane von Furstenberg cashmere dress I have hanging in my closet wasn’t exactly a bargain buy either.
 
A tip for all the knitters: Visit Knit for Brains for cruelty-free yarn, knitting needles, and vegan knitting bags.
10
Jul

Cruelty-Free: Shoes

We’ve come a long way, baby! In July of last year, I wrote a blog about my experience converting to all vegan footware (“Clickin’ My Heels, July 29th, 2008). Ridding my closet of all leather products, I was just beginning to discover the options; and I was delighted to find that I didn’t have to sacrifice style or quality for choosing to go cruelty-free.

In my closet, you’ll find:

Flats and Wedges:
Novacas
Vegetarian Shoes
Madden Girl, by Steve Madden

Boots:
Te Casan by Natalie Portman
All my boots — high heels, low heels, ankle-high, knee-high– are from Natalie Portman’s collection. Alas, Te Casan in SoHo closed its doors, and so the limited collection has become even more limited. However, I’ve spotted a few styles still available at Endless.com.  And — lucky you! –it looks like they’re all discounted by as much as 50%!

Heels/Pumps:
I don’t wear heels very often, but we all need a couple pairs of dressy shoes. In addition to my Natalie Portman heels, I’ve discovered Olsen Haus, which has some great designs for when you’re looking to make more of a statement with your feet. Stella McCartney has some great vegan shoes, too, if you don’t mind the price tag.

Sneakers:
Macbeth (as featured in last year’s blog)
Simple (eco-friendly, hemp)
New Balance (running shoes)

Flip-Flops:
J Crew (skinny wedge style)
Splaff (soles made from recycled race-car tires; straps made from bicycle inner tube)

A good place to browse for women and men is Moo Shoes, a store on New York’s lower east side with a great web site for online shopping. They’ve got all the best brands, and the online store is well-organized so that it’s easy to find a particular style if you’re shopping for a special occasion. The site also offers belts, handbags, and wallets. If you’re in New York, visit the store on Orchard Street. You just might run into me there the next time I’m in town!

Buyer Beware: When you’re shopping at a store that is not specifically vegan, look for “Made from All Man-Made Materials” inside the shoes. Just because a shoe is fabric (black satin heels seem like they’d be animal-friendly) doesn’t mean the sole isn’t still made of leather! You want to make sure the shoe has a synthetic upper and sole.

Note to Birkenstock Lovers: their “Birko-Flor” sandals are cruelty-free :)

9
Jul

Cruelty-Free: Handbags & Wallets

On a blog-tour around the house, I’ve been saving the treasure-trove also known as my closet for last.  Today, let’s just focus on handbags and wallets.  Although I’ve spent most of my adult life slinging a messenger bag over my shoulder, I’m Italian and a graduate of a private prep school, so I grew up understanding the importance of a good handbag.  For those of us who don’t like to get too busy with accessorizing, the perfect handbag is sometimes all we need to complete an outfit.  Going vegan in this department, there’s no need to cramp our own style!
Here’s what you’ll find in my closet:
  • Manhattan Portage: This company is known for its old-school messenger bag, and I’m a loyal fan. Most of the time, I carry the classic “DJ” in black.  Simple, understated, durable… and when you throw it in the washing machine, it comes out looking like new!  What more could you ask for in your day-to-day bag?  I love it so much, I also have one in orange with a reflective stripe, and a larger messenger bag in black with a reflective stripe that I used as a book bag while in grad school and now use when I need to move with my Macbook.  My latest Manhattan Portage is just perfect for when I’m on the go and feel like keepin’ it light: the “East Village” mini-bag is ideal at an ideal price (just $29).
  • Matt & Nat: The Gucci of vegan bags and wallets, but not quite as expensive.  As I mentioned, I don’t carry around a handbag too often; but when I do, I have my Matt and Nat bags.  They’re fashionable and high quality.  This product line offers a variety of textures as well as styles.  My “streamline” brown bag has a smooth faux-leather finish, while my black bag has a grainier look.  I’ve got my eye on a “Japanese paper” design for the next time I make a purchase.  I also carry a Matt and Nat wallet most of the time.
  • Escama: For dressy occasions, I have a little fun by carrying my “chica rosa” made from over 200 post-consumer recycled soda-can tabs.  Guaranteed conversation piece!
  • GG2G: My tote bag made from recycled billboard material.  Each tote made by this company, naturally, is unique and has brilliant splashes of color.
  • Tinymeat: Despite the name, there’s no animal in these wallets “constructed of vinyl, art, and love.”  I bought one of these inexpensive wallets to keep all my cards in that I don’t carry around on a daily basis. Fun designs and supportive of independent artists.

Wallet options for men:

  • Malcolm Fontier, Ecolution (hemp wallet), VeganWares:
    all available at Moo Shoes
  • Splaff Bike Tube Wallet at Splaff
  • Green Guru Billboard Wallet at Vegan Store
8
Jul

Cruelty-Free: For Our Companion Animals

Of my three dogs, only Galileo is a viable candidate for a completely vegetarian diet. Whether it’s arugula or romaine, chopped baby carrots or asparagus, Galileo insists on getting his fair share of anything I whip up in the kitchen. Pushkin, at the opposite end of the spectrum, wanted nothing to do with fruits and vegetables. I would add diced carrots and baby peas into a mix of brown rice and baked (free-range, organic) chicken. He would eat the rice and chicken with gusto… and spit out every single speck of vegetable. Galileo, without fail, would be there to clean up after his big brother. Otis, my middle child, treads the middle path: he’ll eat some vegetables and some fruit; broccoli is OK, as long as it has pecorino-romano cheese sprinkled on top of it.

So how do we create a home that’s completely cruelty-free when our animals aren’t as taken with the idea of embracing a vegetarian diet? I know there are some people who would suggest that my pups would eat all-vegetarian if that’s all they were offered; when Pushkin was sick, however, and my main goal was to keep his weight up, I made a choice to be as cruelty-free as possible while still taking care of Priority #1 — my beloved beagle. The parameters I set up in the kitchen based on my pups’ preferences are good to keep in mind for humans and non-humans alike, especially if you have family members who just aren’t ready or as willing to embrace a vegetarian or vegan diet. I encourage everyone, whether it’s about food for their animal companions or their human family members, to take some time to find out where their food is coming from and how the animals are treated before they get to our tables. Think organic, local, cage-free, free-range, grass-fed… and try to stick with these words as often as possible while you do your grocery shopping. Human-grade is another good thing to look for when shopping for the animals in your home.

Two product lines I am especially wild about:

  • The Honest Kitchen: Dehydrated recipes that are 100% free of chemical preservatives, by-products and fillers.
  • Dogswell: Healthy grain-free options. For their chicken recipe food or chicken treats, they use only cage-free chickens, with no added hormones. My dogs like the Mellow Mutt treats, dried chicken breast strips flavored with chamomile and lavender.
Gone are the days when table food was considered a bad thing for Fido. If you take the time to make healthy food that provides a balanced diet for your pups and note the few foods such as grapes and onions that are not safe for them, there’s no reason to exclude non-human family members from experiencing some culinary delights. On Sunday mornings, a breakfast of scrambled cage-free egg whites and Morningstar’s “bacon” was, for a long time, a tradition in my home; only recently have we discovered “Organic O’s” cereal with rice milk gets an equally enthusiastic response.  And the pups are likely to sample most of what goes on the dinner table during the week. However, there is a shelf in the pantry reserved for them:

Dry Food:

  • Azmira Classic Beef Dry Dog Food
  • Pet Promise Daily Health Dry Food

Wet Food:

  • Dogswell Wet Food: Vitality (Chicken & Sweet Potato recipe)
  • Dogswell Wet Food: Happy Hips (Glucosomine and Chondroitin)
  • Azmira Holistic Animal Care Wet Food: Beef & Chicken Formula

Treats:

  • Dogswell “Veggie Life” Happy Hips Sweet Potato Chews
  • Whole Paws (Whole Foods) Hip & Joint Formula Dog Biscuits
  • Trader Joe’s Organic Chicken and Brown Rice Recipe treat sticks
  • Zuke’s Hip Action Dog Treats (beef, peanut butter)
  • *Itty Bitty Buddy Biscuits (peanut butter): we use these treats when we play with the Dog Brick game! (see Pawlickers.com for more details and to purchase this game)
Grooming:
  • Pet Promise Natural Pet Shampoo (with Oatmeal and Aloe)
For feline family members: Pet Promise, Azmira, and Zuke’s offer a variety of cat food options and treats; and Dogswell has launched a “Catswell” product line.
7
Jul

Cruelty-Free: Chocolate (La Dolce Vita)

The next time someone offers you some M&M’s, tell them you prefer a kiss! A Hershey’s Kiss, that is. I just returned from a wonderful birthday getaway to San Francisco, one of my favorite cities and home to Ghirardelli chocolate. Many of my friends are quite serious when it comes to their chocolate.  This weekend, as I approached the corner of Larkin and North Point, I could understand why: the aroma of chocolate that spills out into the streets surrounding Ghirardelli Square is as intoxicating as the view of the San Francisco Bay.

So, for all my chocolate-lovin’ friends out there, here’s the scoop: one of the largest commercial chocolate manufacturers does some pretty horrific things to animals. Suffice it to say that there have been reports of force-feedings and injections of ingredients into arteries. If you need more gruesome details to convince yourself it’s time to give up that favorite chocolate bar from your childhood, I’ll leave you to google “Mars, Inc.” for yourself. The good news is that Hershey’s does not fund or implement animal testing, so you still have plenty to choose from while waiting in the grocery line: Cadbury, Almond Joy, Mounds, Heath, Kit Kat, Milk Duds, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Whoppers are all Hershey’s products.

But maybe it’s time to get a little more adventurous with your chocolate. Why limit yourself to the impulse buys at the supermarket register? Good chocolate is as complex and seductive as good wine. Not surprisingly, my personal favorite comes from Italia. My favorite chocolate indulgence is Baci — kisses in Italian: bittersweet chocolate drops with a filling of crushed hazelnut pieces. Molto dolce! And, these days, there are several organic, fair trade options. In addition to being cruelty-free, these product lines directly address the issues of using pesticides and child labor in chocolate production.

Ones to try:

  • Climate Change Chocolate
  • Dagoba Organic Chocolate
  • Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates
  • Seeds of Change Organic Chocolate
1
Jul

Cruelty-Free: In the Home Office

You should have seen the expression on the salesperson’s face when I asked her if the store carried any cruelty-free Post-Its! Post-Its? Yeah… and while you’re at it, how about some cruelty-free tape, and white-out, and glue? Unfortunately, supplies that have become staples around the home and office are not as animal-friendly as we’d like them to be. When I first realized that some of the largest manufacturers of office supplies were on the “ick” list, I sent a note off to a Q&A on the PETA web site. The advice I received was to start purchasing generic versions of these items rather than supporting 3M or Scotch directly. At the time, I was still searching for animal-friendly products, so I bided my time and stocked up on generic notepads to appease my Post-It habit.

A recent discovery, The Green Office (thegreenoffice.com), offers a variety of products that could be good alternatives to the stuff cluttering up your desk right now. And what I really love about them is their “green screen” approach: each product is tagged as conventional, green, or dark green; all three categories require a product to meet certain sustainability criteria.

Again the caveat: not all eco-friendly stuff also gets the cruelty-free stamp of approval. The Green Office, alas, does offer 3M Post-Its (made out of recycled paper). BOOOOOO! However, check out Elephant Dung Poo Pads manufactured by Mr. Ellie Pooh, which also are available for purchase on The Green Office site. “Like post-its without the 3M sticky stuff!”  The paper is made up of elephant dung and rice paddy — seriously. I did some research, and apparently elephants in Sri Lanka stand to benefit a great deal from the realization that their dung can be a commodity. Because elephants are vegetarians, their waste is raw cellulose, which can be converted into acid-free paper that resembles papyrus. How fabulous is that? So, while I have yet to confirm that these elephants are being treated humanely, it may be that the increase in thier perceived value as living, breathing, eating, and… well… pooping beings will work in their favor.

If you can’t get used to the idea of elephant dung post-its, stick with those generic sticky-note pads for now…