Just because clothing is vegan, doesn't mean it's cruelty free
Models backstage at Stella McCartney (Photo by Antonello Trio/Getty Images)
British fashion designer Stella McCartney has stopped using wool from an Argentine supplier because of animal-cruelty concerns.
McCartney is one of several designers around the globe who doesn’t use leather, fur, or animal skin in her clothing. After People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released a video showing the alleged treatment of sheep, she announced via Instagram that she would no longer use wool from Ovis21.
“I am devastated by the news but more determined than ever to fight for animal rights in fashion and monitor even more closely all suppliers involved in this industry,” she wrote.
It’s a move that animal-rights activists and vegans everywhere applaud. Leather may be the most obvious material that strict vegans avoid, but cows are just one of the animals whose skins are used for shoes, belts, jackets, and other garments. Others include those aforementioned sheep as well as pigs, deer, horse, alligators, seals, rabbits, and snakes.
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“While it is very clear that animals are horribly exploited and killed for the production of skins, leather, and fur, we are generally unaware of the immense cruelty behind the wool, silk, and down industries,” says Sivan Pardo Renwick, founder and director of The Vegan Woman, who also says that there’s a “massive smokescreen” between consumers of the sources of many textiles.
“We tend to think that wool, angora, and cashmere are gently shaved off animals, with no harm being caused to them, while in reality the industries have developed horrific practices to get maximum production with minimal investment in the animals’ welfare,” she notes, pointing to everything from alleged dehorning without anesthesia to skin cutting by unskilled workers to castration without sedatives.
“How many of us have ever considered the angora rabbit, for example, when purchasing a new angora sweater? And yet 90 percent of angora wool comes from China, where no appropriate regulations are in place to protect animals from abuse. Many of the angora rabbits are held in unimaginable, heartbreaking conditions. With undercover footage by PETA Asia revealing angora rabbits being tortured as fur is being ripped from their skin while fully conscious and alert, with no sedatives or tranquilizers, you can see the gap between the consumer experience and the animal experience.”
Yet it seems that the clothes on people’s backs—vegan or not—come with all kinds of other concerns, including largely overlooked effects on human health and the environment. Whether they’re made with leather or faux-leather, bamboo or polyester, clothes of all types can cause environmental damage during the production process, which may or may not happen in factories with abhorrent working conditions.
Aside from ethical and humane considerations, the making of leather uses a range of chemicals, sometimes including formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and various oils, dyes, and finishes, some of them cyanide-based, according to PETA.
Although no animals are harmed in the making of cotton, it’s not exactly a pure industry either. According to the Pesticide Action Network, conventionally grown cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop. Nearly US$2.6 billion worth of pesticides are sprayed on cotton fields each year, accounting for more than 10 percent of total pesticide use and nearly 25 percent of insecticides use worldwide, the organization claims.
Furthermore, PAN says that many of the most hazardous pesticides on the market, including broad spectrum organophosphates and carbamate pesticides, are regularly sprayed on cotton fields, putting farmers and farm workers at risk. It points to a 2002 study of pesticide illnesses in California that showed that cotton ranked third among the state’s crops for total number of worker illnesses caused by pesticides.
Bamboo is another example. While it’s environmentally friendly to grow the crop, the manufacturing of it into fabric uses potent chemical solvents, according to Shellie and Michael Lackman, the founders of OrganicClothingBlogs.com.
“Bamboo clothing marketers have found a variety of ways to put the most eco-friendly and sustainable face on the manufacturing of bamboo fabric,” the two write on their blog. “The dominant manufacturing process of hydrolysis alkalization and multi-phase bleaching is generally referred to as a rather benign process utilizing caustic soda and bleach. The chemicals used are known to create a variety of health problems and neural disorders which can be hazardous to the health of fiber manufacturing workers. If the manufacturing facility lacks adequate pollution control systems – all too common in developing countries where regulations and enforcement are nearly non-existent – then these toxic chemicals can escape into the atmosphere through air vents and smokestacks and into waterways through inadequately treated waste water disposal systems.
“Also, environmental regulations, controls, enforcement and attitudes vary greatly from country to country as does transparency into what really happens within a country’s manufacturing facilities,” the two note. “For example, getting reliable data and information from garment manufacturers in China, where most clothing is now manufactured, is very difficult.”
Meanwhile, the making of pleather—aka synthetic, vegan, or faux leather—has environmental consequences. The manufacturing process involves the use of a solvent called dimethylformamide. It’s highly toxic, and so to get rid of it, the material has to be washed over and over again, wasting water and energy, according to the American Chemical Society. Some faux leathers contain polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which contains phthalates and other chemicals.
So what are animal-loving, health-conscious, eco-minded fashionistas to do, aside from walk around naked?
Start by reading labels, suggests Renwick.
“If you are someone who only buys fair trade items, you can continue to do so while avoiding animal-based materials,” she says. “If you only buy clothes made without the use of chemicals, then you probably already know that many of those include organic cotton and vegetable dyes. If you do none of those, then the only thing you’ll need to do in order to avoid items that involve animal cruelty is to check the label before you purchase.
“If checking labels in not your thing, you can always turn to exclusively vegan shops that offer both clothes and fashion accessories,” she adds. “All we need to do is make informed decisions. Just flip the label and read.”
Look for organic or sustainable certifications too.
Check out these resources for more information:
The Sustainable Cotton Project
The Organic Consumers Association
Institute Of Science in Society
The Unified Sustainable Textile Standard
