If you found out that the leather you own was made from human skin (like the items that were made from holocaust victims’ bodies) would you simply use it until it wore out? If you believe it’s wrong to use animals as commodities, would you feel comfortable profiting from the sale of your non-vegan clothing and bedding? If you knew that the lambs had been sold for meat and the mothers deprived of raising their young, would you feel comfortable giving someone clothing made from the hair robbed from the backs of sheep?

There is a good deal of debate in the vegan community over what to do with non-vegan clothing, bedding etc. after becoming vegan. Often people go with the easiest and most socially acceptable option, rather than the choice that respects the lives of the animals that were taken or harmed. Allowing their continued circulation in the market perpetuates the perception that animals are resources, rather than acknowledging the reality that these items are made from someone’s skin or hair, a mother’s milk, or feathers taken from a dead bird’s body.  They were never ours to take in the first place.