If you’re going to make one change in 2021, let it be this.

Happy New Year guys and thanks for checking out the first Grandermarnier blog post of 2021! I hope you’ve all had a good Christmas break, and big hugs to anyone who couldn’t be with their family. Around this time a lot of us are thinking about the year ahead and what we’re hoping to achieve, from our personal lives and health to our careers and finances. If one of your aims is to be more eco-conscious this year, the good news is there are so many ways for you to do that! From taking part in Veganuary; the 31-day challenge of trying out a vegan diet, to trying to create less waste, there are countless ways to reduce your impact on the environment. If you’re a bit of a shopaholic or just really into putting different outfits together, you might be thinking of ways you can be more sustainable in terms of the clothes you buy. Well, I have a way you can shop more sustainably, and more ethically, while still enjoying your own personal style and the fun of putting new outfits together. Keep reading if this sounds like something you’re looking for… 

Sarah wearing a vegan jacket, roll neck top, skirt and boots

It’s time to cut out animals from your wardrobe

Image: Pexels. A woman petting a cow behind a wire fence.

Switching to vegan fashion, or plant-based fashion as people may prefer to call it, is a fantastic way to reduce your impact on the environment while still being able to have fun with your style and express yourself with the clothes you wear. For so long we’ve been told that animal materials are normal to wear, even luxurious, but as we continue to learn more about the impact behind our fashion choices, we now know that not only do these materials have a severe impact on the environment, but they cause an unspeakable amount of suffering to the animals that are used to make them. 

With new technologies being developed all the time, we’re set to see plant-based fashion become more popular over the coming years, and more designers opting to use cruelty-free alternatives to animal-based materials. The most commonly used animal materials are cow’s leather, sheep’s wool, down from ducks and geese, and silk from silkworms. There are also materials reserved mainly for the luxury fashion market such as exotic animal skins from snakes, crocodiles and ostrich’s, cashmere from goats, and alpaca wool. 

Vegan fashion is basically avoiding all materials, glues and dyes that contain any animal products. A lot of people ask me about vegan fashion and I love answering their questions, so I actually wrote a blog post recently with all the frequent questions I get asked and did my best to answer them from my perspective and with the knowledge I’ve gained over my years of blogging, check it out here.

Leave a comment below if you already wear vegan fashion or if you’re considering making the switch!

Image: Pexels. A woman browses through a rack of clothing in a shop.

How to start shopping vegan fashion

When I first started looking into vegan fashion, I just searched online and found a lot of fast fashion websites that sold things like polyester tops and PU leather boots (PU leather, or polyurethane leather, is vegan but is made from crude oils, super bad for the environment). While these types of clothes are vegan, they still cause a lot of damage to the planet so don’t really achieve the overall goal of reducing our impact. Over time, there have been more brands popping up that have created vegan clothing and footwear from more sustainable materials, a win-win for the animals and the planet!

At first it may take you longer to find vegan clothing that’s also been made sustainably and ethically (it’s also important to check out a brand is treating their garment workers well and paying a living wage) but I promise you it’s so worth the effort. Not only will you be able to feel proud of the clothes you’ve bought, but you’ll also form a stronger bond with the pieces you’ve spent time researching and thinking about, rather than the impulse-bought fast fashion clothes that are hanging around at the bottom of your wardrobe.

I don’t advocate buying fast fashion clothing or shopping at high street stores now that we know how corrupt most of them are, and how badly they treat their workers, both here in the UK and in the garment factories around the world. That being said, I’m not here to judge and I understand that making the change to shopping 100% ethically and sustainably is a journey and can’t be done overnight. There are a couple of high street stores like New Look and Marks & Spencer that have vegan ranges, and they might be a good choice for you if you’re not ready to try different brands yet.

If you are looking for new brands to try out, I would recommend looking at my A-Z list of brands that I’ve put together! The brands I’ve included are all vegan and make their clothes using sustainable materials and ensure the people who make them are treated well and paid fairly. It’s a great resource to start out with and I can guarantee you’ll find a brand that you really connect with and feel inspired to check out. 

There are also a few websites that stock a curated collection of vegan brands, it’s like a vegan shopping mall online! My favourite to use is Immaculate Vegan, where you can shop vegan, ethical and sustainable fashion all in one place. From shoes, bags and accessories to clothing, beauty and even homeware, Immaculate Vegan has everything you could ever need to live your best vegan life. (As an affiliate of Immaculate Vegan, if you choose to buy anything via this URL link I may receive a small commission. This helps me continue blogging and eventually be able to make this my career.)

Of course, the most sustainable option (after just wearing what you already own) is shopping second hand. You’ve got charity shops on most high streets that are a great place to start shopping vegan, you can find fantastic bargains and give a second life to clothes that have been donated to charity. If you’re more of an online shopper (like myself) I would highly recommend downloading the Depop app. It does take some getting used to and I can’t promise that you won’t have at least one bad experience on it, like an item not showing up or something not fitting after it arrives, but please stick with it! Having used Depop so much over the past two years, I’ve learned some tips and tricks for how to avoid getting scammed, buying the right size and being sure of what you’re going to get. Check out my guide to using Depop here!

The world of vegan fashion is growing every day, with more exciting brands popping up all the time, and more ways than ever to shop sustainably. If you’re trying to make a difference and save the planet, switching to vegan fashion would be the perfect way to do that while still enjoying the joy and creativity of fashion. 

Follow me on Instagram and Twitter to see more vegan fashion inspiration and the behind-the-scenes of this blog!