Going vegan with your wardrobe isn’t just a great way to extend moral living to a new area, it’s an essential step in restructuring the world.
Next, to food and travel, disposable fashion does the most damage to our natural world. Here, then, are six ways to go vegan where it counts.
Tips for Going Vegan with Your Wardrobe
1. Adopt eco materials
A vegan wardrobe doesn’t have to be limiting. Enough people are now living a moral consumer lifestyle that alternative production methods and alternative materials are becoming common.
Phase-out non-vegan materials and start shopping with an eye for cork, canvas, recycled synthetics, and even pineapple leather.
2. Care for your clothes
Part of adopting a vegan wardrobe is making your clothing last – there’s no point committing to sustainable clothing if you make up the difference with the shipping and provision of constant replacements.
Wool-free knits should be washed in cold water, faux leather should be treated with petroleum jelly-based products, and faux fur CAN be machine washed so long as you skip the dryer.
Learn how to care for your vegan wardrobe – the longer it lasts, the more you’re doing for the planet.
3. Check with the Sustainable Fashion Academy
The Sustainable Fashion Academy was set up with the ongoing goal of establishing ethical fashion practices.
Since their guidelines are constantly evolving, they’re a good indicator of who to trust with your wardrobe, and companies like ASOS, which enrolled 140 employees in sustainability training at the Sustainable Fashion Academy, show their true colors in how they interact with this voluntary body.
4. Log in to Good On You
If you’ve decided to go vegan in any area of your life, you’ll know that one of the biggest stumbling blocks is knowing who to trust.
Good On You is an app created to solve this problem, providing ethical brand ratings for a range of companies.
Their tagline is ‘wear the change you want to see’, and there’s no better way to open up your vegan wardrobe options.
5. Don’t forget the shoes
It used to be particularly difficult to find vegan shoes when you were assembling a wardrobe, but that’s no longer the case.
Companies like NAK (No Animal Killed) produce vegan shoes with morally sourced materials and processing.
It’s easy to forget about things like accessories and footwear as you veganise your wardrobe, but don’t fall into the trap of forgetting this major aspect of going vegan.
6. Remember that re-using clothes is great too
Any vegan is going to be highly conscious of the materials used in their clothing, but the manufacturing process should also be on your mind.
Happily, clothing bought from charity shops and other second-hand venues has already been created, and this is one area where demand DOESN’T create more supply.
Shop second hand without any guilt – the more pre-loved clothing you add to your wardrobe, the closer to a completely resource-neutral ensemble you are.
Remember to offer the same benefit to others by passing on everything you’re done with – every item of clothing someone down the line didn’t have to buy new is of advantage to the world around us.
