"I feel very sorry for women who continue to purchase real fur coats. They are lacking in a woman's most important requisites, heart and sensitivity." ~ Jayne Meadows
Veganism includes not wearing animal products or products that harm animals
So, the obvious things like woolly jumpers, fur coats, leather (shoes, handbags, belts, wallets etc), silk pyjamas and fox stoals are clearly out.
There are less obvious things that are not vegan:
- COSMETICS Some cosmetics that people wear may not contain animal products but are not worn by vegans because they have been tested on animals. Animals have been made to suffer (see vivisection page) during production.
- FAKE, OR FAUX FUR is probably best avoided because several recent investigations have shown it to be real fur. See also Stylecaster.com article. It is reputedly cheaper to breed animals for imitation fur clothing than it is to make fake fur.
- WOOL Wild sheep naturally shed their wool. Domesticated sheep have been bred so that their wool grows continuously which is both uncomfortable and potentially deadly to the sheep. An informative page of info about the cruelty of wool. George Monbiot's video "hills are 'sheep-wrecked' and in danger". Self-shearing sheep bred by British farmers for first time! The Lake District’s world heritage site status is a betrayal of the living world. Wool is a by-product that is the result of years of selective breeding. In 2018 Peta celebrated the ongoing demise of an outdated industry that is from the middle ages and is slowly becoming obsolete. The wool is a by-product of meat and is factored into a farmers financial equation. Sheep farmers often talk as if they are doing the sheep a favour by looking after them!! The sooner fewer people buy wool the sooner these barbaric animal industries will end. There are plenty of ethical clothing products that do not support the wool or even synthetic plastics industry. Hemp, or flax, or cotton to name a few.
- COTTON A few words about cotton; although clearly not an animal product, it is one of the thirstiest crops in the world taking about 2,720 litres of water to produce one cotton T-shirt, equivalent to what an average person might drink over three years. Remember the estimate is that 183,000 birds die each day of pesticide poisoning in the United States alone. Cotton is treated with more pesticides, insecticides, herbicides than any other crop. Aldicarb, Monocrotophos and Deltamethrin - some of these chemicals are banned in Europe and the USA. Yet, they are still frequently used and cause severe problems worldwide including paralysis of children . . . some have even been found in human breast milk. We can at least choose organic cotton (NOT sustainable) clothing or something made from organic hemp. Choose bleach-free (unbleached) clothing where possible as well. See how much the US spends on chemicals to treat cotton here
- GLUE - usually made from animal hooves or tissue.
- CIGARETES & TOBACCO - probably responsible for more animal experiment suffering than anything else.
- CANDLES most likely contain beeswax or animal fat. Some have honey included as a scent.
- In the mid-19th century the transcendalists at Fruitlands, probably the first ever vegan community (before the word was defined) refused to use animals to pull ploughs. They also boycotted wearing cotton because of the exploitation of people working in the fields.
How to Guide for an eco-friendly Vegan Bathroom