Fashion

Animal use is so pervasive sometimes we find animal products in things we would have never expected! This is because of the fact that we live in a non-vegan world where animals are used by the millions, so animal products are very available. Hopefully, one day the world will stop using animals and be vegan. In the meanwhile, here you have a guide and information that can help you avoid animal products in clothing, fashion accessories and jewellery.

Clothing & Fashion Accessories

Leather, wool, silk and fur are items we easily recognise as being from animal origin, but there are other materials commonly used in clothing and fashion that are not vegan. Usually, if an item is expensive, it usually contains one or more than one animal product. In all events, always remember to check the labels to make sure the item is vegan. If you find a material on the label you don’t know whether it is vegan or not, search the web to make sure it is! At first, it might seem complicated, but you’ll be an expert sooner than you expect.

A list of the most common clothing materials that are not vegan:

Angora, bone, camel hair, cashmere, cerecloth, down, feathers, foulard, fur, horn, leather, mohair, mohair, pashmina, satin, shahtoosh, shearling, shell, silk, snakeskin, suede (microsuede is vegan), wool.

Commonly used clothing materials that are vegan:

Acrylic, Aertex, bamboo, corduroy, cotton, denim, elastane (Spandex / Lycra), elastic, faux-leather, Gore-tex, hemp, HydroLite, linen, lint, microfiber, microsuede, nylon, polyester, polyurethane, PrimaLoft, rayon, sateen, lyocell (Tencel), towelling, Velcro, vinyl, viscose, velveteen.

Jewellery

Many jewellery items contain animal products. A list of some of the non-vegan materials that you can find in jewellery:

Bone, coral, elephant hair, feathers, horn, ivory, leather, pearl, porcupine quill, reptile skin (e.g. alligator and crocodile), shell, shellac, snakeskin.

If you are not vegan, please go vegan. Visit Why Vegan? & Living Vegan to learn how to start.