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The Vegan Society defines veganism as follows:

Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.

Purchasing new leather is inconsistent with this vegan philosophy because it involves giving money directly to an industry that exploits animals. Is buying secondhand leather consistent with this philosophy because no money goes directly to the animal-exploiting industries?

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  • This needs to be more specific. It's going to be opinionated but if you replace "a vegan philosophy" with some other goal or metric, then it can be opinionated about the means not the ends.
    – djechlin
    Jan 31, 2017 at 20:28
  • @djechlin How about if I refer specifically to the definition of veganism proposed by the vegan society website? Would that still be too open-ended?
    – C_Z_
    Jan 31, 2017 at 20:33
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    Not sure, link? It might turn into "...is consistent with the vegan society's philosophy..." which would now be a question of interpreting their beliefs. More realistically you might use the content of their mission for inspiration and then ask about that.
    – djechlin
    Jan 31, 2017 at 20:35
  • The problem with terms like this is that there is no "One True Meaning" that everyone adheres to. For example for me personally, eating meat that would otherwise be thrown away (e.g. leftovers from restaurant dinner with coworkers) is not just "vegetarian", but even the best possible thing to do. Others might disagree on that (for example because they're veggie for different reasons)... It's really very opinion-based.
    – Martin Tournoij
    Jan 31, 2017 at 20:37

1 Answer 1

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Technically, no (source):

Veganism [..] the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet

Using artificial leather can be a good replacement to obey vegan philosophy.

no money goes directly to the animal-exploiting industries?

This is highly debatable, but buying a second-hand object usually helps the seller getting a better/newer similar article. So, this indirectly helps animal-exploiting industries.

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  • Debatable indeed ... often, selling off one's used goods is about getting totally uncommited storage space and/or money.
    – rackandboneman
    Jan 7, 2019 at 17:00
  • There is also the case that you just prevented the opportunity for a non-vegan to buy something used, thus making it more likely that they will buy a new leather item.
    – Jake
    Jul 31, 2019 at 20:03

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