It seems like I found this thread a little late and it is trailing off now, but I just wanted to say what I think;
I think that we can all agree that a leather bag is not vegan. Using the leather bag is not really vegan either, right? But what about the other values you hold?

I remember reading the cook book "How it all Vegan" and the authors talk about how they each own leather products, because they bought them before they became vegan and plan to use them until they wear out and then buy vegan replacements. I think this makes a lot of sense from an ecological perspective. Rather than consuming more materials to buy vegan replacements and giving your bag away (or throwing it in the landfill) I think it makes more sense to use it until it wears out.

However it sounds like you aren't really using it, so then I think there is no reason to keep it.

I just bought a new purse this weekend, and the one I had been using was leather.  It had become a joke with all my friends on how long I would use the same purse.  I was gonna use it til it fell apart.  It never did fall apart, but I found a cute non leather one anyway.  No one gave me a hard time about it, and I didn't care anyway, part of my vegan philosophy is not wasting things anymore.  Do whats right for you, besdies....if your friends are like mine, they don't even understand that owning a leather purse isn't vegan!  They still ask why I can't eat fish, honey....etc

My sentiments exactly!

I almost bought a fake-leather type purse last summer... it was really good quality, a tad expensive for me, but I didn't buy it for two reasons - the price (hehe, primary), and the fact of (what others have already pointed out) it "advertising" the leather look even if it's not leather. My friends and family know I'm vegan and that I wouldn't buy leather/fur/wool/silk/so on, but it is theoretically possible that people who see you with said item are just the teensiest bit encouraged to get something like it (hey, my purchases have been influenced by what looks nice on other random people). That being said, I'm not one to tell other vegans they shouldn't get fake ____ just because of this, I just kind of avoid it myself.
If it just sits in your closet and you never intend to use it, it's not functionally different from just throwing it out - that's what will happen eventually. I had a relatively new pair of leather shoes when I first went vegan, and it was tough for me to throw them out (eventually they would up being bloodied, so then it was easy! Long story.). Even if some well-meaning relative gave me a non-vegan accessory, I wouldn't want to keep it around... too creepy, and reminds me of the pic posted by hh (which I think was probably the point of that pic - we know leather = cow, but usually when people see leather they don't think of cow-chained-upside-down-being-bled-out-via-knife-and-bucket. + all the other traumatic details. that's what i'd think if i saw leather in my closet, not "how cute!" or whatever. but that's me. I know i certainly wouldn't and didn't feel the same way when i first went vegan... it took time)

I would say yes, if you bought it after you went vegan.

No, however, if you had it pre-vegan days. Personally, to me, (and I do realize this is not a popular opinion), but I feel like if an animal died to make something and that thing is then tossed, that makes the animal's death even more pointless. I can appreciate other points of view, but... I'd use it until it wore out or give it away.

I came across this topic when I searched "vintage vegan leather." Sorry to revive a dead topic, but I think a lot of interesting things were said and I wanted to add to them.

This is probably not a great first post for a vegan board, so let me preface it by saying that I have been vegan for two years, vegetarian for 2 before that, I don't eat honey, I work at a no-kill rabbit rescue, I buy cruelty-free, etc.

Only a couple people mentioned the environmental implications of keeping old non-vegan stuff. I agree that the leather industry should not be supported. But most kinds of manufacturing have a negative impact on the environment. In particular, most fake leather is produced using carcinogenic chemicals - not as bad as the leather industry, but still bad.

If the environment is high on your list (and remember, many animals - and humans - depend on that environment,) then instead of buying a whole bunch of new vegan things that took a lot of energy and materials and chemicals to produce, it's a good idea to keep all of that old leather stuff until it falls apart, and buy vintage or make stuff yourself whenever you can.

I agree with the people who said that most passers-by don't know the difference between real and fake leather. So, unless they ask you, they might go out and buy a leather look-a-like of what you are wearing. My point is that you can't be responsible for how others percieve your clothing and accessories.

Vegans almost always have to make some compromises - gasoline is tested on animals, tap water is filtered using bone char - you just try your best to live in a way that causes the minimal amount of harm. Everyone makes different choices of what to compromise.

whoa, Dovo.

Don't make too much sense.  After all, this is teh intarwebz.