The Salad Bowl Inc.

â??I could never be a vegan. I love shoes too much!â? â??What do you mean you donâ??t wear wool in the winter? Shearing doesnâ??t hurt the sheep, does it?â? â??What do you wear to keep warm?â? Those are just a few of the many comments I hear regularly from women when they consider what they think it means to be a vegan. In a word . . . deprivation. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As with the food we eat . . . if I had a dime for every time I hear, â??Youâ??re a vegan! What do you eat? Oh, yeah, salads.â? Period. Itâ??s as if thatâ??s it. And, the only thing they can think is, â??Yikes, that would be horrible. I like salad, but every day at every meal . . . I donâ??t think so.â?

Eating a vegan diet is much more delicious and uncomplicated than most people imagine (and salads are only a small part of it), but weâ??re not here to talk about that right now. Instead, letâ??s look at the 5 myths that abound when it comes to â??vegan style,â? and no, the two concepts are not mutually exclusive.

1. Deprivation â?? â??I donâ??t want to wear shapeless clothes and plastic shoes.â? Whoa, hold on. I can guarantee that everyone already has at least some â??veganâ? clothes in their closet without even knowing it. Do you wear cotton, linen, rayon, or any of the fabulous manmade microfibers now available? Of course you do. And, more and more gorgeous designs are being made in cruelty-free fabrics these days. With a little forethought and label-reading, there is no deprivation necessary!

2. Leather is a by-product of the meat industry. Animals are not killed just for their skin â?? Actually, both are true. Contrary to popular belief (if people even think about it at all), some animals are killed purposely for their skins and fur. The process is horrendous. And, by wearing skins, no matter how the skin is procured, you are silently endorsing the brutal treatment and death of millions upon millions of animals. Neither denying or ignoring this fact does not make it go away.

3. Itâ??s too expensive â?? No way. Like all fashion, vegan fashion comes in all price points. Shoe prices, for instance, run from Payless to www.charmone.com. There is something for everyone no matter what your budget.

4. They are not well-made â?? Guess what? Like anything else it depends on where you shop. My closet contains clothes from Target to Armani (yes, the Armani is vegan) so whether you shop thrift stores or boutiques (or both, like me), you have choices about the amount of attention to detail that goes into any particular garment or accessory.

5. Itâ??s too hard â?? Okay, Iâ??m going to be blunt. Get over it. If I can do it anyone can. When I first imagined how I was going to be a vegan image consultant, I could have said, â??No, itâ??s too hard.â? Instead, I chose to make it an adventure, and Iâ??ve never reconsidered my decision. Itâ??s a matter of listening to your heart â?? the rest will fall into place easily and sweetly.

Donâ??t let these myths sabotage your desire to live cruelty-free. They honestly donâ??t have to. Like anything else, itâ??s a matter of supply and demand, and Iâ??m already seeing the advantage tipping in the direction of cruelty-free, vegan fashion. With each person who makes this commitment, our choices increase and more myths (not animals) die.