Vegan Fashion: Can we label Faux Fur as

What is Vegan fur?

Vegan fashion (also know as cruelty-free fashion or animal-friendly fashion) coming from veganism. As a lifestyle and philosophy, it becomes more and more popular in recent years. We believe after the pandemic of covid-19, it will be growing faster. 

According to the definition of PETA, the world's largest animal rights organization, vegans don't wear leather, fur, silk, or wool.

In this way, we can say Faux fur not equal to Vegan fur.

In US and Europen markets, the mainstream faux fur products include acrylic/modacrylic, polyester, wool, viscose/rayon, etc. Therefore, wool faux fur fabric produced by wool fiber is not a vegan item. For more details, please refer to the article "What is faux fur fabric?"

The rest, acrylic/modacrylic faux fur, polyester faux fur, viscose/rayon faux fur, all belong to vegan fur. 

What is sustainable fashion?

PETA is limited to animal rights, but their veganism theory is in the lake of environment perspective. For example, they accept conventional chemical fibers as vegan, regardless of their impact on the environment. At the same time, sustainable fashion is readily being accepted by more people. 

Sustainable fashion (also known as eco-fashion and ReFashion) concerns more than just addressing fashion textiles or products. It addresses the whole system of how clothing is produced, who produced it how long the life span of a product is before it reaches the landfill. This means dealing with interdependent social, cultural, ecological, and financial systems.

Sustainable faux fur includes animal fiber products - wool faux fur.

As a crucial step, choosing sustainable fabric is the beginning. 

Sustainable textiles are materials derived from eco-friendly resources which are natural & organic, recycled, biodegradable, or from bio-based fibers. 

Following 4 running items can be classified as sustainable faux fur:

Wool faux fur

wool is biodegradable and renewable. 

Rayon (viscose) faux fur

Cellulose is the world's most crucial bio-based polymer by far. It is biodegradable as well.

Recycled polyester faux fur

rPET stands for recycled polyester. It's a member of the polyester family and is made from both post-industrial and post-consumer waste. rPET fiber is strong and achieves almost the same quality as virgin polyester. Our mill has certificated by GRS - Global Recycle Standard. 

Bio-based faux fur

Sorona® is the DuPont brand name for renewably sourced PTT (polytrimethylene terephthalate). 37% of the polymer is made using annually renewable plant-based ingredients. Compared to Nylon 6 it uses 30% less energy and releases 63% fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

Sorona® for faux fur is made with 70% to 100% bio-based Sorona® polymer fibers.

For more details, please refer to the article "How companies can source sustainable faux fur fabric?"

Figure 1. 100% recycled polyester faux fur fabric by Easetex.

Vegan, sustainable textiles is the future

Vegan and sustainable fashion is an essential part of ethical fashion; they are sustainable textiles that eliminate animal-based products. UK-based fashion brand Stella McCartney is the leader of sustainable vegan trends.

It follows from above that rayon (viscose) faux fur, recycled polyester faux fur, and bio-based faux fur are eligible vegan sustainable faux fur fabrics.