Social media star and animal rights activist extraordinaire Kalel has got serious style. The fashionista gave an exclusive tour of her vegan closet, sharing her must-have cruelty-free picks for fall.
Looking cool shouldn’t be cruel.
“AS TIME WENT ON, AND THE MORE ‘WOKE’ I BECAME ABOUT WHERE MY STUFF WAS COMING FROM, THE MORE … I WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH IT,” EXPLAINED KALEL.
Watch her informative and sweet closet tour here:
When shopping for cruelty-free clothing, be sure to avoid items that contain any of the following materials:
- Angora wool
- Down
- Fur
- Leather
- Sheepskin
- Silk
- Suede
- Wool
Vegan Fashion Is What’s Up!
“I ACTUALLY WAS VERY SURPRISED AT HOW EASY IT WAS TO VEGANIZE MY CLOSET,” CONFESSED KALEL.
As Kalel proves, you don’t have to lose your fashion sense when choosing to live with compassion. With fashion-forward brands like Free People, Guess, REVOLVE, Vaute, and Zara out there, cruelty-free clothing is a huge presence in the industry! Now, it’s easier than ever to stock your wardrobe with loads of affordable vegan pieces—and it’s super-fun, too! When shopping for clothes or accessories, look for the following vegan materials:
- Acrylic
- Cotton
- Hemp
- Linen
- Polyester
- Polyurethane
- Rayon
- Recycled nylon
- Soy silk
Animals Shouldn’t Suffer for Fashion
“THE BIGGEST THING THAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE FOR ME WAS BECOMING AWARE OF WHERE MY CLOTHING WAS COMING FROM,” SAID KALEL.
You may already know that animal skins are used for clothing, but you may not have realized just how much millions of animals suffer each year to produce fashion styles.
(Hint: Animals used for their skins endure excruciating pain.)
Most of the leather in the U.S. comes from India, where cows are forced to walk hundreds of miles in the heat without access to food or water. Their tails are broken, and chili peppers and tobacco are rubbed into their eyes in order to force them to get back up after they collapse. In the slaughterhouse, their throats are cut and they’re skinned, often while they’re still alive—all this just to make a shoe or a belt.
Because there are no laws protecting animals on fur factory farms, killing methods are gruesome. To prevent burn marks on the fur, farmers use cruel, painful slaughter methods, such as poisonous gas, neck-breaking, and anal electrocution. Often, animals are skinned while they’re still alive.
Animals like Asiatic raccoon dogs are used to make angora wool, and the feathers of ducks and geese are violently torn from their skin, often while they’re still alive.
Producing exotic skins, fur, leather, and wool doesn’t just hurt the animals involved—it hurts the environment and humans, too. The global leather industry is responsible for exposing our planet to hazardous toxins, which is so not chic.
Feeling Inspired?
Like Kalel, you can make your closet cruelty-free with gorgeous vegan clothing. Check out peta2’s fashion advice and GirlieGirl Army’s 25 years of vegan fashion archives, shop with compassion, and let the world see your personal kickass fashion style!
peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—has also revealed that cows killed for leather are beaten and electroshocked, rabbits used for angora scream out in pain as their fur is ripped out, sheep are kicked and stomped on by shearers throughout the wool industry, and 3,000 silkworms are killed to make 1 pound of silk. Kalel is part of a long list of celebrities—including Noah Cyrus, Hayes Grier, Jordyn Jones, Kesha, P!nk, Madelaine Petsch, Skylar Stecker, and many others—who have teamed up with peta2 to promote kindness to animals. For more information, please visit peta2.com.