Conforming to values and vegan: Animal-friendly fashion is increasingly in demand

In Germany approximately 1.13 million humans live vegan or do to a large extent without animal products. In 2016 there were only 0.8 million. A PETA consumer survey on the apparel and fashion industry showed that especially the millennials of Generation Y and Generation Z expect transparency in the production of clothing. The younger generations are aware of the problematic production conditions and major environmental pollution in the textile industry. When shopping, they therefore often look for vegan products that have been produced in accordance with their values. The {PETA-Approved Vegan} certificate offers orientation here.

The label identifies fashion and home textiles free of animal suffering. In cooperation with companies PETA is committed to bring animal-friendly styles and designs to the market. In order to better mark this, the organization awards the {PETA-Approved Vegan} logo, which can also be used for marketing purposes in stores, online stores, advertising material and in other communication channels. More than 1,000 companies worldwide already carry the certificate – including HUGO BOSS, Esprit, Armed Angels and pinqponq.

Certification via questionnaire

Companies wishing to become certified are asked to fill out a questionnaire and a declaration of assurance online. This is followed by obtaining declarations from suppliers confirming that no animal ingredients are contained in the product. PETA USA (link www.petaapprovedvegan.com) reviews the submitted documents, awards the license agreement and charges an annual fee based on the applicant company’s sales. For example, for a turnover of $15,001 – $100,000 there is a $300.00 fee.

All-round vegan and fair production

The young fashion label RÓKA has already done so and is certified. The brain behind RÓKA – fair clothing, which means fox in Hungarian by the way, is graphic designer Christina Brause. She has been self-employed with her label since 2017. She designs and manufactures all products in her own screen-printing workshop. She learned printing after her studies in a classical screen-printing company. The designs for her fashion come from her pen, all products are individually hand printed unique pieces. Here in the video Christina Brause gives an insight into her work and introduces the company philosophy.

She purchases the 100 percent fairly produced textile blanks for the RÓKA collection from the Belgian company Stanley & Stella. Since the garments are further processed, they are not allowed to bear the eco-textile seal of approval of the raw material. However, further processing is done with vegan, water-based and certified colors. The final product then carries the PETA logo.

Vegan, organic and fair are the building blocks

Vegan, sustainable, fair trade and organic textiles are very important to Christina Brause. Reason enough to have her collection certified and labelled with the {PETA-Approved Vegan} logo.

Personally, she would like to see more conscious consumption and less off-the-peg clothing in the fashion industry. For her, this necessarily includes fair working conditions, vegan textiles in organic quality and transparency in production – from the initial idea to the finished product.

First certified vegan towel collection worldwide

The bathroom textile manufacturer Vossen also takes a vegan approach. In the conventional production of bathroom textiles, many non-vegan fabrics are used, for example in the form of plain wax for warp production in the weaving mill preparatory stage. They are also used for detergents in wet finishing, for dyes or as softeners for sewing threads.

The VEGAN LIFE Collection from Vossen is the first towel collection that has completely replaced these animal additives with vegetable substances. The aim was to develop a towel that is 100 percent vegetable in order to contribute to a better world.

Certified with the V-label

The VEGAN LIFE Collection is 100 percent vegan and was certified by the European Vegetarian Union and awarded the V-label, the quality seal for vegan and vegetarian products. VEGAN LIFE is available in 15 colors.

Picture Logo PETA

Picture screen printing RÓKA

Picture towels Vossen