Today we are talking about important topic closely related to cruelty free fashion: cruelty free (or vegan) bags. We will answer the most frequently asked questions, but if after reading the article you still have questions, please contact us, and we will be happy to answer your questions.
These are bags that are not made with animal-based materials. Some cruelty free bags use alternative materials to animal-based ones, such as hemp, jute, cotton, or perhaps leatherette, PVC and other soft materials of synthetic origin.
But it is just as true that it would be useless to buy free cruelty bags made with synthetic materials with high carbon footprint, don't you think? Environmental pollution also causes death and suffering in the animal world and it does so by destroying entire ecosystems.
Buying cruelty free bags is a choice that can make a difference in the animal world. Reducing the use of animal-based materials in one of the most cruel industries when it comes to animals -textiles- is a concrete and easily achievable goal. But we should all engage in more conscious choices while shopping, regardless of whether we follow a vegan lifestyle or not.
Recognizing a cruelty free bag is not as easy as you might think, but we at Slow Nature are here to help you understand the various labels in the best way. We also want to teach you how to recognize eco-friendly textiles: a key aspect when talking about Vegan clothing.
It's easy for us to think it's enough to avoid leather, wool, silk, feathers or fur products, and in part it's true. But those who hold up textile certifications as an integral part of sustainable fashion know that actually avoiding animal-based materials is not always the same as choosing cruelty free.
.Cruelty free bags can be defined as such when they have textile certifications guaranteeing there are no animal-based materials origin in the product, as well as any form of animal exploitation during production. The 4 most famous international labels (certifications) are:
Discover More About Textile Certifications
It is really important to distinguish the cruelty free fashion from the eco-friendly or ethical fashion. By eco-friendly we mean a product that respects the environment and by ethical we mean a product that respects the social impacts of the textile production. While by cruelty free we mean products that, besides not using raw animal-based materials, do not include the exploitation of animals during production.
Do you understand how important the presence of a label is to guarantee these conditions? Textile certifications are the starting point when talking about real cruelty free fashion. And we will never tire of repeating that it is equally important to guarantee its production has a low carbon footprint, because "cruelty free" and "eco-friendly" go together when it comes to "respecting the environment".
The presence or absence of these labels depends very much on the materials used to make cruelty free bags, in most cases leatherette. There are many versions of this, however, and we will outline some of the most innovative ones:
These imitations are all bio-based (biodegradable or compostable) and all cruelty free but not 100% eco-friendly, of course. As we always say: the 100% eco-friendly product does not exist, but we can at least buy products that are less harmful to the environment than the classics on the market.
All these materials defined as leather, are more eco-friendly than synthetic materials, such as PVC, polyurethane, polyester, etc., but also better than animal skin. Here, however, we will pause for a second to give us the opportunity to reflect on the true impact of animal skin.
We all know that the livestock (food) industry has a devastating impact on the planet, especially when we talk about intensive farming. Leather, however, is a waste material of this industry and most of it is recovered from the textile industry (such as cattle skin).
The alternative to repurposing leather would be to burn it as waste material.
It is obvious that burning this leather would be even more harmful than using it to create bags, accessories, but also leather jackets and trousers. That's why we have some reservations in this regard - natural resources are not infinite and we can't think about burning the leather as long as the food industry continues to produce tons of it (something that will go on for many years to come).
To make cruelty free bags other materials that we can define as eco-friendly are also used, and would be those that can be recycled:
These together with other materials of natural origin such as cork, hemp, cotton, are used to make most cruelty free bags on sale.
Discover More About Eco-Friendly Textiles
It's very easy to buy cruelty free bags online, but it's less easy to do it in the shops in our cities. Finding bags Animal Free Fashion, PETA, or VeganOK certified, is in fact difficult given the little advertising.
While we await for these to become mainstream - hopefully as soon as possible - we can simply avoid the purchase of materials of animal origin: leather, fur, feathers, silk, wool in every form, but always with an eye on the environment. We can look at the labels to try to find certified products with a small carbon footprint or to choose materials that we consider more eco-friendly than others.
We believe that the answer to this question can be found in every line of this article: cruelty free bags are important to protect the animal kingdom.
In recent years we have killed most of the animals in the wild, not to mention those on intensive farms. The textile industry is largely responsible for these tragic events, but unlike the livestock industry, fashion could well do without them. Killing for clothes was fine centuries ago but today it makes no sense at all.
We are all growing more aware today, but not all of us are able to change our shopping habits.
Would you like to buy vegan products? Slow Nature is the right place to come as we offer an exclusive cruelty free bag selection on our website.
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