Can a vegetarian still be considered a vegetarian and wear ballet slippers?

Question

I've been a vegetarian for more than a year and I just realized (dumb, I know) that my ballet slippers (their not pointe shoes) are made with leather. Can I still be considered a vegetarian if I keep wearing them? I'm quite serious about being a ballerina and a vegetarian. So there's my dilema. Thanks.

EDIT: I think I wrote the question wrong. I meant to ask what you would do, your opinions. Sorry.

Also, canvas shoes wouldn't work because I do competitions and ballet exams, so canvas shoes would be unnacceptable.

Answer 1

You can still be a vegetarian as long as you don't eat your ballet slippers.

Answer 2

It's hard being a vegetarian. There's no arguing with that. It seems as if the entire world is against us, and there's nothing we can really do. Cars have leather interiors, shoes contain leather, we can find animal ingredients everywhere. It has been pointed out that it is nearly impossible to remain 100% vegetarian outside of controlling what you eat. But there are ways to try and avoid it.

For your situation, I see two possible answers. Yes and no. Yes you can wear leather ballet slippers because there are really no other alternatives that are readily available. Sometimes we need to compromise.

The no part comes into play that it is indeed leather. You are causing a poor animal to die.

There is a way to solve this. Since you are really worried about this my advice is to go buy some synthetic slippers. Yes. They do exist, but you may not be able to find them in stores. One great place to look is discount dance supply (www.discountdancesupply.com) there is an entire section of their site that lists canvas ballet slippers! The only issue is the suede sole, but a buying a split sole would mean less of this (and I always preferred split). Their prices range from 12$ to 20$, so they are comparative to many leather ballet slippers. I used to buy from this site for my dance shoes because they have more of a variety than my local stores did.

Another place to look that has completely vegan dance shoes is Cynthia King Dance Studio. They sell a 100% vegan shoe. http://www.cynthiakingdance.com/slippers.htm

Good luck!

Answer 3

Well, it seems you bought the shoes before you went vegetarian. A lot of veg*ans will use up the leather goods they bought before they went veg and buy cruelty-free goods afterwards.

As another poster pointed out, there are vegan alternatives. I have seen the Cynthia King ads in VegNews magazine.

Answer 4

I think that even though you are wearing ballet shoes, you are still a vegetarian because you don't eat meat, so animals are not being killed just for their meat. You can still be called a vegetarian because it refers to what you eat and not what you wear.

Answer 5

Don't worry, :) It's OK unless you are a Vegan!
I do dance too. I also have leather shoes and i am a flexaterian! Its OK because the animal would have been slaughtered anyway for it's meat so don't feel bad, it's not your fault especially as you are keen on ballet. You can still be considered a vegeterian! :pXXX<3<3

Answer 6

They do make vegan ballet slippers! Just google it. I've seen a few sites that carry vegan footwear, including ballet slippers. They have a vegan counterpart to everything. Bowling shoes (leather), tennis racquets (catgut), etc.

By the way, I think that it is hypocritical for a vegetarian to consciously buy leather products or fur. It's gross too. You're wearing a dead animal's skin! It reminds me of the Nazis back in WWII. They would kill the Jews and make soap out of their dead bodies (bar soap is made out of tallow, which is cow or pig fat) and made lamp shades out of their skin. When the light was on, you can see their veins. It's sick.

However, I know a lot of vegetarians who do not buy new leather, because they do not want to support the company manufacturing it, but they will buy it second hand. OR They will not buy any new (or used) leather products, but will keep the ones they bought before becoming a vegetarian, because they don't want it to go to waste. So on one hand, if you already bought the slippers before going veg or before knowing that they were made of leather, you don't have to feel too bad about keeping them. But if you're considering buying new ballet shoes, I would suggest finding some non-leather ones online, or maybe a ballet shoe store. They might have some non-leather ones there. Maybe.

Oh, and one more thing. How do YOU feel about owning leather? The way you wrote your question is interesting, as if you want to know if you still 'count' as being vegetarian, like it's some kind of job title. Being vegetarian isn't about following strict rules for the sake of following them. Like "Oh, if I don't do this, I'm not going to be official." It's about doing what you feel is right. If you feel fine with wearing it, then so be it. But if you feel like something is wrong - which is what compelled you to write this question in the first place - then do something about it.

I don't think that vegetarians should wear leather if they're vegetarian for ethical reasons.. The vegan thing I think comes in when you choose not to wear wool. Wool is like milk, in my opinion. You don't have to kill the animal to get the product, but you are keeping the animal in captivity and are using it. But for leather, you obviously have to kill the animal to get it, just like meat.

Answer 7

As a vegan, you might be concerned, but as a vegetarian..no.

Answer 8

i'm twelve iv'e been a vegitarian for over 3 yrs now. and the way i would think of it with the ballet slippers is that the animal already died. and you should just use it. it's ok. good for u for being a vegiterian. wear the slippers. u already wore them.

Answer 9

I think it would be more of a concern if you were a vegan.

Many vegetarians wear animal products such as leather, since they feel the animal was already killed in the name of supplying meat for someone else's consumption.

I suppose that's not really a good way to look at it... but it does ease the guilt some.

Answer 10

yes because it's only if you're vegan that you can't wear animal products. i'm a vegetarian too and it's hard to avoid wearing leather sometimes.

you're totally fine (as long as you're not vegan)