Vegan Clothes and Accessories – What a Load of Nonsense Part 1
, by Irene Kirchhoff , 5 min reading time
Vegan clothing, vegan accessories - what nonsense? Really? Where and how are animals "used" in clothing and accessories? What are the consequences for the animals? Are there alternatives that do not harm the environment? Many questions. You can find some answers in the blog post, as well as further links.
How can clothing / accessories be vegan?
This is a phrase I hear very often.
I will introduce you to some examples of non-vegan materials. We start with wool and silk .
Why is wool not vegan? The sheep is not killed, is it?
That's right, with caution, the sheep is not killed during shearing. The sheep's suffering begins very soon after birth with so-called MULESING . In this procedure, a V-shaped piece of skin between the anus and tail is removed from the lamb, and the tail is docked from the 3rd caudal vertebra. Everything happens without anesthesia!
The background to this cruel procedure is to avoid fly infestation in the skin fold. Mulesing was generally banned in 2010.
Even the shearing itself is traumatic for the animals. Sheep are herd and flight animals. Separation from the herd causes them to panic. Even the walk to the shearer is accompanied by blows and kicks. Shearers are usually paid by the hour and per sheep. There is no room for animal welfare. During shearing, the sheep resist accordingly, which is why they are forcibly held down. The sharp knives show as little regard for teats and nipples as they do for uncontrolled movements of the animal. As a result, the animals suffer painful cuts which, if at all, are sewn without anesthesia and without further medical care. Not every animal survives this. A slow, painful death after an infection is not uncommon.
Sheep have to be shorn. Yes, that's true. Nowadays, that's how it is. But sheep didn't always have to be shorn. Like all animals in factory farming, sheep were also bred for high yield. The sheep is a descendant of the mouflon. The mouflon had a "woolly" coat according to the seasons. In summer it wore a correspondingly thin wool coat, in winter a thicker one. It is a miracle of nature that most animals manage to control their hair growth so that they have less fur in milder winters and a denser coat in harsher winters. The mouflon sheds its excess wool by itself in spring. This ability has been bred out of sheep. That's why they have to be shorn. As the demand for wool constantly increased, the performance of sheep also had to be bred up. The "surface area" of the sheep was increased by many skin folds, and the amount of wool was adjusted upwards. 200 years ago, a sheep produced about 2kg of wool per shearing per year. Today, it produces about 18kg of wool per year. The lost ability to change its coat exposes the animals defenselessly to environmental conditions. They suffer equally from heat and cold. Australia is the world leader in wool.
Does wool only come from sheep?
No. Alpacas, goats and rabbits suffer equally for wool. The fine underwool of Angora goats and rabbits, for example, is "combed out" with a comb. That sounds harmless. In reality, the undercoat is roughly ripped out of the animals in winter, also without anesthesia. In winter, because then the fine undercoat is densest. It serves as thermal insulation for the animal. It is not uncommon for the animals to freeze to death after "combing out".
Silk is harvested no less cruelly. The fine threads are spun by the silkworm. It builds a hard cocoon with its thread. This cocoon protects it from enemies while it grows into a moth inside. Normally, after transformation, the caterpillar eats its way out of the cocoon and flutters away as a butterfly. The thread length of a cocoon is an astonishing 3000 to 5000 meters in one piece!
The cocoon must not be damaged before unwinding, which is why the moth's emergence must be prevented. In addition, the cocoon's thread is too hard; it would break during unwinding. Therefore, the cocoon, with the still-living moth inside, is softened by boiling before it can be unwound and spun.
Meanwhile, there are a few producers who allow the moth to emerge through a small hole, then close the hole again, and only then soften the empty cocoon by boiling.
These are just a few facts about wool and silk production, which are 100% at the expense of the animals.
There are alternatives to this yarn. Even plastic-free alternatives! Linen, hemp, Tencel, viscose, banana fiber, soy silk. Recycled materials are also gaining importance.
Clothing can therefore be very well vegan and animal cruelty-free. Those who consume consciously protect animals and the environment equally and are nevertheless or precisely for this reason fashionably chic.
Further, in-depth information on wool and silk can be found at www.peta.de , www.4-pfoten.de and www.tierschutzbund.de
Tikiwe® cork bags are vegan and FurFree Retailer according to the guidelines of the 4-Paws Foundation, as well as listed in the Ethik-Guide.
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