Say hello to the new Veganize LA tees. We searched far and wide for an eco-friendly fair trade t-shirt and found one with a 90% lower carbon footprint than most other tees. This 100% organic cotton shirt can be yours for the the low price of $18! Available in both mens and womens slim fit, you can pick one up in the shop here.

Check out some pics of the shirts in action:

The Vegan Collection Store has a band new look and many new items!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of our new and improved website, which can be accessed by visiting www.thevegancollection.com. Here are a few main features of our new website:

What’s New The “What’s New” link at the top of the page menu lets you see what’s new on the site at a quick glance. Visit “What’s New” here.

Cheaper Shipping Shipping rates continue to rise when purchasing items online. To counteract that, we’ve now added real-time shipping quotes and it’s now possible to ship some of our items for as little as $3.00! A list of shipping options is shown at checkout and you can pick the one which best fits your budget and delivery date.

Two New Donation Organizations Every purchase you make at The Vegan Collection Store benefits the animals. We have given 25% of all profits to organizations that are advocates for animals since we started the company and we are happy to announce our the two new charities that we are now supporting. Animal Cruelty Investigations (ACI) is a corporation dedicated to the prevention of cruelty to farm animals and work to protect farm animals through cruelty investigations, humane enforcement efforts and the seizure of abused and neglected farm animals. The Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) is a Mumbai, India-based organization working to eradicate rabies and control the street-dog population in a humane, scientific way. Visit our “Organizations We Support” page here to read more about the four groups that we have chosen.

Store Locator Are you the type of person who likes to try before you buy? The Vegan Collection currently does not have a storefront, but our items are sold by many retailers around the world. You can check out the new “Store Locator” to see if there’s a store near you. Visit the “Store Locator” here.

Gift Certificates We’ve added the ability to purchase gift certificates online in various increments. As an added convenience you can receive them via email. You can purchase gift certificates here.

Newsletter The new bi-monthly newsletter from The Vegan Collection will keep you informed about new products that we are adding to our store and any events we plan to attend. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.

Improved Search You can do a quick search from the homepage to locate an item in our catalog, as well as an advanced search that allows users to search by price range, date it was added to the store or color/size/style. You can visit the “Advanced Search” page here.

Tell A Friend Did you see something on our site you would like to share? You can now automatically e-mail your friends about any item on our site. This easy feature is available on the bottom of every product page.

Entirely New Shopping Cart We have completely revamped our shopping cart and checkout process for a better user experience.

Account Information Track your purchase history, delivery status, newsletter subscription and recent orders all through your account.

We hope you find our new website useful. As always, we greatly welcome and value any feedback you may have. If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please feel free to email us.

Los Angeles based ARME (Animal Rescue Media Education) rescue homeless animals and tirelessly work to educate the public through award winning films like Behind the Mask and Skin Trade. They are holding a silent auction this month to help raise funds for their next 3 films. You can bid on some fabulous vegan items, including two of our most popular wallets which are currently going for only $10!

Go to the auction website here and enter skintrade as the auction username and password to view items up for bid.

The bidding is currently underway, and you have until July 31st at 11:00 PM PDT to enter a bid.

From the ARME website:

Proceeds from this auction will be used to save animals from death row in Southern California, as well as assist us in continuing to make award-winning documentary films that expose the horrors of the animal-abusing industries.

Whenever you have a pet, emergencies are bound to come up. For a group who are perpetually low income, individuals employed in the arts, extra funds for emergencies can be hard to come by. The Animal Care for Artists Initiative provides funding to help artists cover the cost of medical care for their animal companions. This story on their website presents just one example of the animals and their artist owners that are reaching out to ACFA for support:

Olga the dog is 7 years old and needs routine care and monitoring of her heart murmur. She was discovered with cage sores and was mainly used for excessive breeding and then probably dumped. Her owners are a Los Angeles based actress and musician/music teacher who recently lost his job teaching music due to budget cuts. They have devoted their lives to the arts and this is our chance to show them support!

Animal Care for Artists Initiative is a tax-exempt non profit organization and is funded completely by donations. To find out more information about ACFA and how to donate, you can visit their website here. They also have set up a Facebook page for more up-to-date information on events and animals in need.

The granddaddy of all animal rights conferences starts tomorrow in Washington DC. We won’t be there this weekend (we will be attending the 2011 conference that is being held here in Los Angeles next year) but in our absence our friends at Cosmos Vegan Shoppe will be stocking our entire line of products at the convention. This includes a couple of new wallets which haven’t made it up on our site yet! So stop by Cosmos booth and say hi to Leigh and Ken for us. To find out more info about the weekend, including the full list of speakers, vendors and events, click here.

Last week the Los Angeles Times Unleashed blog reported that LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has appointed Brenda Barnette as LA Animal Services General Manager replacing the inept Ed Boks. After a year of searching and various campaigns supporting no kill candidates by local organizations, the appointment of Brenda Barnette had many people scrambling to find out any information they could about the new appointee. ADL-LA has a fantastic write-up commending Mayor Villaraigosa on his appointment stating:

From all our research, which we began right after we heard that Barnette was going to be appointed by the Mayor in an LA Times blog last Wednesday night, we have learned that not only did Jim Bickhart, the Mayor, Jimmy Blackman and anyone else who was behind her appointment make the most intelligent choice, but it’s a monumental choice that will finally accelerate the LAAS shelters from being evil killing dungeons into the beacon of a life affirming sheltering system.

I would highly suggest reading the full article on ADL-LA’s homepage here.

It is extremely exciting that LA Animal Services will finally have a progressive and innovative leader at the helm, truly steering Los Angeles towards being the first major metropolitan ‘No-Kill’ city in the United States.

Starting today through Father’s Day, LA Animal Services is offering a special discount adoption special for both cats and dogs. You can visit any of the 6 local shelters where they have reduced the adoption price of cats to $50.50 and dogs to $78.50. The discounted adoption fees include spay/neutering, microchipping, and a license for your pet. Most vets will also give your new pet an initial checkup completely free if you tell them they are from LA Animal Services. You can click on the image to view the flyer for all the details.

We are excited to announce that Viva Granola Vegan Store in Canada is now carrying belts and wallets from The Vegan Collection. This online store run by a vegan family (2 adults and 3 children) living in Quebec, Canada hope to have their storefront open by the end of the year. But for now, you can order our products from their online store.

We had quite a few requests for a larger size in our standard belt. We now stock both the black and brown “The Captain” belt in size XX-Large which fits a waist size of 43″ – 44″. They are offered at the same low price of $20.  You can pick one up in the shop today!

If you live in Los Angeles (or anywhere close by) there are two screening events that you MUST attend.

First is the Skin Trade Public Premiere and Benefit on Thursday, June 10th. 3 years in the making, Skin Trade premiered to a limited audience back in February, but now ARME and the producers are having their official public premiere at The Majestic Crest Theatre located at 1262 Westwood Boulevard. Shannon Keith, the director, will be present for a Q&A after the screening. They will also be having a silent auction at the event with  proceeds benefiting ARME – Animal Rescue Media & Education to promote this film as well as preparing funds for their next film. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here.

The following week is Bold Native premiere week. On Wednesday, June 16th, the Majestic Crest Theater will be hosting the World Premiere of the film.  With both the filmmakers and cast in attendance, the public will get the first glimpse of the story of an animal liberator wanted for domestic terrorism who emerges from the underground to coordinate a nationwide action. Tickets for the premiere are $12.50 and can be purchased here. Later that week, you can join the filmmakers and watch Bold Native under the stars at the top of the Hollywood Hills. A free screening will be held at Tree People Outdoor Amphitheater on Friday, June 18 at 8:15. You can reserve your seats by RSVPing for the event here.

If you don’t happen to be in Los Angeles, you’re still in luck. Both films have upcoming screenings around the country. To view Skin Trade’s upcoming national screenings, click here. For Bold Native’s upcoming screening schedule click here.