As any self-respecting plant-based practitioner will tell you, living on plants goes way beyond the food we eat. Our diet is vitally important for sure, but so are the choices we make in other areas of our lives, and that includes the world of vegan fashion.

While many still see the fashion industry as innocuous, largely through a lack of information rather than blatant disregard for animal welfare, others are waking up to the fact that what we wear is just as important as what we eat.

The list of materials made or taken from animals is long. Some of the more obvious include:

Leather – Wool – Silk – Feathers – Skins – Fur

However, many of these materials appear on the racks with different monikers and some seemingly synthetic fashion products may actually contain animal products. It’s a bit of a minefield out there.

The good news is that things are changing, albeit far slower than we’d like. Vegan fashion houses are springing up all the time, and with leading lights like Stella McCartney vowing to never use materials taken from animals, the future looks bright.

However, that doesn’t necessarily make shopping for cruelty-free fashion items any easy at the moment. With this in mind, we’ve put together a few articles that should, hopefully, help you make the right choices – for you, the animals, and the environment – next time you’re shopping for ethical clothing.