A Guide To Vegan and Cruelty Free Clothes & Fashion

Veganism is a lifestyle that excludes the use of animals for food, clothing, and other purposes. Those practicing a vegan lifestyle strive to avoid any type of exploitation and cruelty involving all animals. Most people are familiar with vegan dietary restrictions because vegan diets have become more popular in the past several years. Eating a plant-based diet is often healthier because this eating style includes more fruits and vegetables. A vegan lifestyle also involves avoiding animal-based materials in apparel as well, largely due to concerns about animal cruelty involved with the production of these materials.

What’s Wrong with Clothes Made from Animal Products?

People have been wearing clothes made from animal products for hundreds of years. Although the use of some of these materials involves harm to the animals, materials such as wool and down don’t always involve killing the animals to harvest the material. The concern, however, is that animals raised to produce materials for clothing often live lives of misery and suffering due to their exploitation. Vegans don’t want to contribute to animal cruelty by wearing or using items made of animal materials.

• The Environmental Impact of Animal Products in Fashion

• Animals Used for Clothing

• Fashion’s Impact on Animals

Leather

Leather is made from the skins of dead animals. The leather production industry often uses young animals to produce premium leather. Some young animals such as lambs or calves may also be used for meat, but other types of baby animals would be raised and killed only to produce leather. Leather production also uses dyes and chemicals that can be harmful to the environment.

• The Truth About Leather

• The Brutal Realities of Leather

• Does Ethical Leather Exist?

Silk

Silk comes from silkworms; it isn’t harvested from a plant like cotton is. The caterpillars or silkworms that produce silk produce this thread to make their cocoons. In the process of harvesting the silk, the caterpillars are usually killed while they are inside the cocoons. This ensures that the silk isn’t damaged during the harvesting process.

• Why Vegans Don’t Wear Silk

• The Truth About Silk

• All that Glitters is not Kind

Wool

Sheep’s wool may be the most commonly known type of wool, but there are many different types of wool used for apparel. Goats produce mohair and cashmere, and angora is harvested from rabbits. During the sheering process for mohair wool, goats are in a very cold environment, which puts them at risk for parasite infestation. Goats producing cashmere have to be shorn while they are very young, and then the goats are sold to produce meat. It’s only the first sheering that produces cashmere, so these goats can’t be used again. Rabbits that produce angora suffer in wire cages, and they are roughly shorn repeatedly. Sheep have to be carefully bred to produce a lot of high-quality wool, because this isn’t a natural occurrence for sheep. After repeated sheering, the wool quality invariably goes down, at which time the sheep are killed.

• PETA Says Wool Is Just As Cruel As Leather And Fur: Here’s Why

• Is There Such a Thing as Humane Wool?

• Is Wool Vegan? Ethical Considerations of The Wool Industry

• Is Wool Vegan? Guide to Vegan Wool Alternatives & The Wool Industry

Fur and Down

The fur industry has undergone intense scrutiny due to animal cruelty. Animals that produce fur are kept in small cages on fur farms, and they are killed in whatever way will ensure that their pelts aren’t damaged. Some animals are even skinned alive. Recent innovations in the cosmetic industry have included the use of mink fur in false eyelashes. Minks may not be killed to harvest this fur, but they do live miserable lives. Ducks and geese produce down feathers. This industry involves breeding ducks and geese for their down, and the feathers are plucked from the dead animals. Sometimes live animals may be used as well, which involves plucking out the feathers from the scared birds.

• Who Died for Your Coat?

• Everything You Need to Know About Buying Ethically Sourced Down Products

• The Birds of the Down Industry

Cruelty-free Clothing Alternatives

A number of cruelty-free materials are now available for producing textiles. Organic cotton, hemp, bamboo, and linen are examples of alternative materials that fit the vegan parameters. Fake leather is also an option, and this material may be made from recycled plastic bottles or vegetable waste. Faux silk is also available, made from seedpod fibers. Read the labels to find ethical vegan clothing made from cruelty-free materials.

• Animal Considerate Fashion

• 10 Affordable Ethical Vegan-Friendly Fashion Brands on a Budget

• Dress Yourself With Compassion

• The Easiest Way to Shop Cruelty-Free Fashion

Vegan Fashion Brands

Stella McCartney is a well-known vegan fashion designer. This brand focuses on both ethical and environmentally friendly production methods. Miakoda produces cruelty-free apparel that is dyed using sustainable sources. Consumers have information about the origination of each item. Labante specializes in faux leather handbags that are cruelty-free and sunglasses made completely from bamboo. This company uses 25 plastic bottles to make every handbag.

Additional Information on Animal Rights and Welfare

• World Animal Protection – This organization supports animal rights and welfare all over the world. You can support this noble cause in many different ways.

• PETA – PETA is one of the most recognizable animal rights organizations that works hard to educate consumers about animal cruelty and the changes they can make to combat it.

• Animal Welfare vs. Rights – Animal welfare involves all aspects of animals’ wellbeing. Animal rights is a philosophy that is against the use of animals by humans.

• Animal Welfare: What is it? – Animals that are in good welfare are nourished, comfortable, healthy, safe, and able to behave naturally.

• Animal Rights: Definitions, Issues, and Examples – People advocating for animal rights contend that animals need to be distinguished from inanimate objects.

• Understanding the Difference between Animal Rights and Animal Welfare – Animal rights groups are striving to improve animal wellbeing by stopping human interaction with them.

• Animal Rights and Animal Welfare – People working in animal rights groups want animals to have the same rights that humans have.

• The Animal Rights Movement: History And Facts About Animal Rights – Animals have inherent value, making them worthy of moral consideration.

• Veganism and Animal Rights: How Your Diet Affects the Lives of Animals – Because animals experience joy and pain, a vegan lifestyle is the humane choice to protect them.

• Compassion for the Animals – Vegans believe that animals deserve to live lives that are not based on how they can be useful to humans.

• Plant-Based Eating – A plant-based diet not only helps animals, it helps the environment.

• Primer on Animal Rights – People concerned about animal rights want to stop the harm to animals for human gain.