People are becoming more aware of the environmental impact of their shopping habits. Shopping locally, buying organic and focusing on natural products are all becoming common place. The upshot is that people are paying more attention to the carbon footprint of certain manufacturing processes, like clothes, which lends more credence to arguments against clothes made from animal products.
Aside from the obvious cruelty involved in the leather, fur, wool, down and silk industries, the processes that lead up to the finished product are all carbon heavy, from the land required to house animals to the chemicals used to treat skins, furs and feathers.
There’s also the small matter of cost. Leather, wool, down and silk products cost the earth (in so many ways), whereas their alternatives are much more affordable.
So, how do you shop for an animal- and environmentally-friendly wardrobe?
- If you like designer labels and brand names, the first thing you should do is check out Peta’s website. Peta has a comprehensive list of animal-friendly designers and brand labels. You may be surprised to know that Nike have vegan or leather alternatives to their shoes, as do Sketchers, Nine West, Timberland, Adidas and Puma.Certain designers, the most prominent of whom is Stella McCartney, also embrace animal-friendly principles and don’t use any animal products in their clothing ranges. Leona Lewis, the beautiful UK siren, has expressed interest in creating an animal-friendly clothing line. Emma Watson (most famous for growing up in the public eye as Hermione in the Harry Potter movies), has joined forces with People Tree to create an ethical and animal-friendly clothing range.
- Shop online. There are a number of vegan clothing producers online, all you have to do is Google them. For example, there are TheVegetarianSite.com, The Vegan Store, Vegan Shoes, Moo Shoes, Matt & Nat, and feelgoodhandbags.
- Read the labels. Don’t buy anything wool, leather, silk, fur or down. Instead of leather, look for labels that contain man-made leather, all-man-made materials, pleather, or synthetic material. Instead of wool, Peta recommends polyester fleece, acrylic, and cotton flannel. Replace silk with nylon, polyester, rayon, Tencel, milkweed seed pod fibers, and silk-cotton tree and ceiba tree filaments, while synthetic down, down alternative, polyester fill, and high-tech fabric, Primaloft, are a good alternative to down. Don’t even think of real fur, it’s faux all the way.
- Care2.com advocates buying at least one cotton garment per season, to fuel changes in the clothing industry, making your own clothes and buying stylish items that will last and won’t go out of fashion so that you don’t have to needlessly keep buying items.
Most clothing stores cater to animal-friendly shoppers, intentionally or not. Regardless, stocking and maintaining a wardrobe that is animal and environmentally-friendly requires no more effort than a trip down to your local store.
Jade Scully is a copywriter excited about writing copy and stories, blogging about the world and editing. She currently and regularly publishes her stories on a number of blogs. Jade loves animals and hopes to begin writing copy for the animal rescue charity TEARS as her contribution to the cause.
