A Beginner’s Guide To Vegan Clothes Shopping
There have been a lot of posts on this site about vegan clothes and fashion, but how many newcomers to Team V know about it? Obviously, it means that your clothes are made without causing any cruelty to animals, but you might not have thought that your shirts and jeans were something to worry about. Thankfully, vegan clothing is not impossible to find; thanks to the growing popularity of veganism, many stores are now taking care to stock cruelty-free clothes. The question is, how do you know which items are vegan?
Labels
Whether you buy your clothes online or on the high street, they all come with labels that indicate washing instructions, sizes, and the materials used to make the item. Even if you’re shopping for Ruby Rd blouses, there will be information about the blouse telling you whether it’s made from 100 percent polyester, or if it contains 35 percent wool. Once you know which fabrics are vegan, all you’ll need to do is look at the label to see if that item has a space in your wardrobe.
Fur and leather
Image SourceIf you’ve already cut meat and dairy from your diet, you’ll know why leather clothing items are off the table. Real leather and suede are made from the skin and hides of animals. Similarly, fur is taken from animals raised or trapped specifically for their fur. Instead, buy clothes made from imitation leather, such as pleather, synthetic leather, man-made leather, or waxed-cotton. You can also tell fake fur if the label says the item contains polyester, acrylic, or modacrylic. As an added bonus, fake fur and leather clothes will be cheaper to buy than the genuine product.
Shoes
Unfortunately, no leather means that buying durable shoes can be difficult. Fortunately, there is a growing market for vegetarian and vegan shoes, so this dilemma might soon be a thing of the past. Check out this post about Charlie Butler’s kickstarter campaign for vegan shoes, or just type vegan shoes into a search engine and see which online stores deliver to your area.
Silk
Silk clothes have always been a bit of an extravagance, but now it’s safe to say that you won’t be wearing silk pyjamas anytime soon. Silk is made from a fiber that is naturally secreted by silkworms, but sometimes the worms are boiled alive to extract extra amounts of silk to meet demand. Fortunately, materials such as polyester, nylon, rayon, tussah, and ceiba tree and silk-cotton tree filaments feel exactly like silk, but they are made from a fabric made from wood pulp.
Wool
Image SourceGoats, sheep, camels, and rabbits are kept in harsh conditions to generate enough wool to make clothes. You’ll know you’re buying a cruelty free wool sweater if any of the items have the word ‘synthetic’ on them.
Retailers
Vegan clothing has slowly made its way into mainstream retailers, all you have to do is find out which ones. Mango, Zara, H&M, and Topshop are great examples, and you can find more here.
About Sunny (Sunny's Profile)
Longtime vegan, hardcore compassionate beauty junkie, serious cake aficionado, and lover of all things floofy and sparkly! If there's something in particular you'd like me to review, drop me a line at Sunny@VeganBeautyReview.com. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Google +.Filed in: vegan fashion
