Otsu vegan shoes, accessories, gifts

November 27, 2004

Nice article about this shop in the San Mateo County Times. They've got

shops in San Francisco, Portland and online.

Laura

http://www.veganmart.com/

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/

0,1413,87~11271~2559406,00.html

Fashion conscientious at vegan store

By Helene Blatter

CORRESPONDENT

Friday, November 26, 2004 - At Otsu, a trendy shop in San Francisco's

Mission District, customers will find stylish shoes and belts, cute

handbags and wallets and knickknacks handcrafted by local artists.

But shoppers may not realize that this hip detour off the chic

Valencia is also a tool for social action.

One of only a few stores of its kind in the country, Otsu (which is a

Japanese word meaning quaint, chic and tasty) only sells vegan

products.

Its faux leather shoes are animal hide-free, its knit hats and scarves

are wool-free, and all of its products are " cruelty free, " according to

owners Yvonne Chen and Jeremy Crown.

In other words, Otsu is an animal-lover's dream come true.

Vegans don't eat any foods derived from animals and apply their diet

philosophies to clothing and other items as well. Vegans avoid wearing

all types of fur, leather, wool and silk, which can make shopping for

trendy clothes and accessories a challenge.

Otsu sells fashionable leather-like shoes, made from a breathable

microfiber that makers say is durable and water resistant. The shoes

are designed by companies specializing in animal-free products.

Otsu is located at 3253 16th St. between Guerrero and Dolores streets.

The store is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday and

Monday by appointment. Otsu's Web site is www.veganmart.com

Before Otsu, shoe buyers looking to avoid animal products were forced

to wear canvas sneakers like Converse and shop at discount shoe stores

where cheap synthetics are often used instead of leather.

Chen, 31, and Crown, 28, both vegans, saw a niche waiting to be filled

and took a chance.

" The idea for the store came up because we'd been ordering (vegan)

shoes online, and every pair we ordered had to be returned for a

different size, " Chen said. " We thought it would be useful to have a

place where you could try shoes on. "

The fact that few others had sought to capitalize on the burgeoning

market made them nervous. " We thought, 'we're either geniuses or

fools,' " she said.

But two years later, Chen and Crown have opened a sister store in

Portland, Ore. And, last month, they celebrated Otsu's second

anniversary with the release of a tree-free, chemical-free Otsu

datebook.

Crown says the response has been overwhelmingly positive. " Everyday

people come in and ask us if there are other stores like this, " he

said, " and we say, 'there are like five in the world.' "

One of the barriers keeping similar stores from opening, Chen says, is

the high cost of importing synthetic shoes from places like England and

Australia where interest in animal rights is more widespread.

For Chen and Crown, Otsu is about more than filling a need for leather

alternatives.

" The whole idea was to make vegans seem more normal, " Chen said.

" To let people know that there are normal people that are vegans, too. "

They wanted a store that would counter the image of the ragtag hippy

vegetarian and appeal to people just like them -- young, hip, urban

twenty to thirtysomethings.

" We knew we wouldn't serve the entire shoe-buying public because we

didn't want to sell things we thought were ugly, " Chen said.

All of their products -- from 100 percent organic cotton T-shirts to

vegan marshmallows to Spanish tote bags made from recycled event

banners -- are carefully selected to be as animal-, environment-, and

labor-friendly as possible. " Humans are animals, too, " Crown said.

Crown, who grew up in Virginia and followed the dot-com boom out West,

became a vegetarian when he was 14 out of an interest in environmental

issues. Chen, a Bay Area native and University of California, Berkeley

graduate who worked at NASA, stopped eating meat after watching a video

on cattle farmers in eighth grade. Both later became vegans, viewing it

as a means to end factory farming and animal abuse.

But, while they're passionate about the cause and are happy to tell

you their reasons for being vegan, both say they're not activists.

Instead, their goal of making veganism more mainstream is based on the

theory that money talks.

" The biggest statement you make is where you spend your money, " Crown

said. He believes that by supporting vegetarian companies and buying

vegetarian goods, people can influence the market.

" To think, when we became vegetarians that there would be a veggie

burger in every Burger King in the U.S. was unthinkable, " he said.

Jill Bliss, 34, a San Francisco-based artist who designed Otsu's new

day planner and sells her books, jewelry, artwork and wallets at the

store, credits Chen and Crown with her decision to become a vegan.

" Before I met them, I thought vegans were angry, militant people, " she

said. " After I met them I thought, 'not all vegans are crazy.' "

And that's exactly what Otsu's owners are hoping to achieve.

" We think of every person as a possible vegetarian, " Crown said. " One

meal makes a difference. One pair of shoes makes a difference. It's

about one step at a time. "

November 27, 2004

sad cuz its been in SF fer a few years now..and still haven't been...

morgaana

Nov 27, 2004 6:15 AM