When You Choose Vegan Products

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Vegan products are so much more than what foods we choose to eat. It's also fashion and beauty items like clothing, shoes, handbags, accessories, skin and personal care products.

If it was created without harm to an animal and even insects it can be considered vegan. Although the term vegan or vegetarian are not the only ones used by fashion designers and manufacturers. Frequently we find items being described as animal friendly, non leather or cruelty free.

It's a lifestyle decision that has presented quite a few challenges when it comes to shopping and looking good. But it's getting easier all the time thanks to designers, companies and individuals who share these views and are bringing vegan products to the market.

Initially for me finding alternatives to leather was the hardest. There are all kinds solutions for non leather handbags or belts but shoes. That can be a problem.

Synthetic materials are often the answer. They offer the best, most durable options. Imitation leather has come along way and is so much more comfortable. Unfortunately, we all know that very often synthetically produced items are no friend to the environment.


But there are some responsible and environmentally concerned companies that are making headway in creating synthetic materials that can be made with environmentally sound practices and that can also be recycled. These materials are just not readily available for all uses yet. But they're working on it.

Vegan shoes are being made by some top designers and companies in new styles and selections that can compete with today's newest trends and that includes handbags too.

The look of leather in handbags will never go out of fashion but we don't have to use the real thing. Materials that look like leather can give us the same great look without the harm.

Plus, what makes handbags so fun is that they can be made from so many different materials and fabrics. If it's animal friendly it's a vegan handbag.

Many of us are concerned over the use of fur, how animals are treated for their wool or unnecessary harm to moths that are used to make silk. Whatever your concerns, alternatives are available.

There are a wide variety of materials that can be used to create vegan products. Vegan clothing can be made from all natural plant materials like cotton or hemp to synthetics like pleather or mod acrylics, which are used to make faux fur.

Polar Fleece is a man made fabric made from recycled plastic bottles and how about Tencel which is created by combining natural and synthetic ingredients.

If I choose to wear wool, I would make the effort to locate a source that used wool from animals on small farms where the sheep were treated humanely, as is not always the case.

And a true vegan would avoid silk that was created by boiling living silk worms within their cocoons to get the silk. There are alternatives to conventional silk.

Animal ingredients in our skin and personal care products is quite common but more and more we can find vegan beauty products that don't contain any animal ingredients and that offer natural, effective skin care.

I don't think many of us give much thought to what our brushes are made of and many times it is animal hair. Vegan brushes made from Taklon feel very soft and work quite well. I have been very happy with the results I have had when using vegan cosmetic brushes.

I have found that very often when people are concerned about buying cruelty free items they are also concerned for the workers that make our clothing, shoes and accessories and also the environmental affects of our purchases.



Hard but not impossible it just takes a little looking. The company below is just one example of what's possible.




It's unfortunate that there just aren't enough options out there right now that reflect our desires to protect animals, people and the environment. Fortunately, things are changing just not fast enough for those of us ahead of the times. We have to work with what's available and be patient and new vegan products will become available.