Check out the organic cotton range at White Stuff
Transitioning into a fully vegan lifestyle will take you on a gradual journey of equal parts excitement and reinvention of yourself. We begin our journey with the simplest of fridge discoveries and food-cupboard delights, whereby we transform our diets and fall in love with the plethora of plant-based eats we can create and devour. Once we’ve made the connection between compassion and diet, we begin to turn our attention elsewhere – towards the wider scope of what it means to live a conscious vegan lifestyle.
UGLY BEAUTIFUL
Before I became better informed on the subject of ethical and responsibly sourced clothing, I was certain that all of my garments (besides a pair of leather boots I purchased when I was 15!) were suitably vegan-friendly, and that their production contributed no harm towards living beings. After all, clothes made from cotton and synthetic fibres aren’t using any animal products during manufacture, so why would they not be vegan or ethical? You may be surprised to hear that the fashion industry is one of the highest polluting industries on a global scale, with waste and chemical runof reaching new destructive and unsustainable highs every year. The industry prides itself upon the creation of trend-led pieces with fast turnover from season to season. This drive to be the best and the newest retailer causes a phenomenon known as ‘fast fashion’, a creation of relatively inexpensive garments, sold to consumers at rock bottom prices. We currently throw away an average of 82lbs* each of textile waste every year, making fast fashion a truly destructive industry.
The fashion we throw away is sold to us at a low price, and this low sales tag value often presents itself hand-inhand with cut corners and exploitation during production. More than 90%* of cotton grown for fashion is genetically modified and highly sprayed with pesticides, leaching into the waters and soils, whilst thousands upon thousands of chemicals from dyes, bleaches and treatment agents are washed into some of the world’s largest waterways due to unregulated waste management from processing plants. This toxic cocktail of chemicals poisons fish, plants and other water-dwelling organisms, as well as leaching into our seas and contributing to coral bleaching. It’ll make you think twice about that £3 T-shirt.