How to be a Fashionable Vegan?

As our society continues to evolve, we move away from life as we know it. A few hundred years ago, man’s greatest problem was growing his crops and hunting for animals to make his own food. But as we have progressed, we have figured out that we don’t need to hold on to those beliefs. We have realized that it is possible to maintain a healthy lifestyle without animals as a source of protein. For those of us who have made the decision to survive solely on a plant-based diet, we have chosen to call ourselves vegans.

If you have been on the internet within the past few years, then I think you must have heard a few vegan jokes or two. While you get a good laugh in, do you know who a vegan is and what they stand for? Well if you don’t, then make sure you don’t stop reading.

Who is a Vegan?

A vegan is simply someone abstains from the use of animal products in their diet. A vegan also believes that animals are not commodity ad should therefore not be treated as such. According to fundamental vegan philosophy, farming animals for the sole purpose of providing food for humans is not only inhumane, but it is also damaging to the environment and ultimately unsustainable.

Vegan Lifestyle

For most vegans, it is so much more than food.  For example, if you believe that animals should not be farmed for food, then you should also believe that they should not be farmed for fashion, entertainment or even laboratory experiments. Vegans believe that animals should never be exploited in the service of humans and that’s why the decision to go vegan has to be backed up with intent and a rock-solid resolve. As a vegan, none of your clothes would be made from any animal parts, all of your cosmetics would have to be certified cruelty-free, all your food and body grooming products would have to be produced by companies that are as environment conscious as you are, and your diet would of course exclude animal products. So you see, veganism is not just about what you had for dinner, it is about how you believe animals deserve to be treated.

Vegan Fashion and Sustainability

Now for people who want to wake up everyday looking fabulous, the decision to go vegan may be a difficult one to make. Would you have to give up your chic looking fur jacket? Or your thousand dollar snakeskin purse? While these may not exactly be life threatening questions, it is important that they are answered. As a fashionable vegan, you may have to do a little more work to find clothes that not only look good but also make you feel good inside and out.

Thankfully, the fashion industry is beginning to catch up and vegans are beginning to have more and more ethical options. While there are obvious fashion items that you should avoid as a vegan (e.g. leather, animal skin, wool, cashmere, silk, fur, feathers, jewelry made from tusks etc.), there are some others that may not be as obvious. So maybe your outfit was not made with any animal products, but was it manufactured under environment friendly conditions? Are the producers conscious about how their waste disposal affects the environment? Do they recycle? As a vegan who is passionate about fashion, you may need to take the time to ask these additional questions and make the hard decisions.

While this might seem tough to follow through with, it is important to point out that there are several brands that have been confirmed to be totally vegan friendly. For instance, Azuro Republic is committed to stocking vegan friendly mens bead bracelet so that you do not have to do a background check on each item you want to purchase. So who says vegans have to walk around in sacks or dull colored recycled clothing? Who says vegans have to work with limited fashion options? If you pay attention to the right brands, then you will have absolutely nothing to worry about.