How to shop kind to #WearitKind
The Do’s and Don’ts of shopping kinder to #WearitKind
Do you have a sustainable animal-friendly approach when you are shopping for clothes?
Do you wonder how you can reduce the negative impact of fashion and clothing on animal welfare and still catch the eye? Interested to know how you can #WearitKind?
By shopping kinder!
This means shopping with a few personal goals in place and setting up your own personal do’s and don’ts of sustainable fashion shopping before you venture out to the shops - and we’re here to help:
Do’s of shopping kinder to #WearitKind
- Be on the lookout for pre-loved clothes: These items have a big positive social and environmental impact. They reduce carbon emissions, save lots of resources, water, and energy. They also prevent old clothing from ending up in landfills or incinerators
- Keep a look out for cruelty-free brands: An easy way to protect animals is to avoid buying animal products all together. Seek stores known for sustainable practices that are ethical towards animals too.
- Switch your wardrobe in phases to be cruelty-free: We all want to move away from a world of waste, and as they say, the most sustainable t-shirt is the one already in your closet. However, many fashionable animal-friendly consumers are starting to ditch animal products and aren’t feeling comfortable wearing items made from animals any longer. If you’re looking to rehome old furs, offer them to your local wildlife sanctuary or animal shelter for animals in need of a comfy warm bed. Why not seek out clothing recycle initiatives near you!
- Encourage fashion brands that you support to invest in animal-friendly and sustainable strategies: Write to your favourite brands and ask them whether they use fur, down from live plucked geese or mulesed sheep wool. Let them know what you believe an animal-friendly fashion future should look like. You might also like to point them in the direction of a FOUR PAWS page where they can find all sorts of information on how to be kind to animals used for fashion.
- Be aware of animal cruelty practices like those that lead to cruel wool: Consumers can check out the campaign against mulesing to see brands taking a stand against this awful cruel wool practice by which lambs are injured.
Don’ts of shopping kind to #WearitKind:
- Don’t depend only on clothing labels for your information: Unfortunately, all clothing labels do is tell you what animal fibre is used. Often, the label doesn’t tell you anything about the standard of care provided to the animal used. Rather do your homework before shopping to investigate brands for yourself.
- Don’t let retailers and shopping brochures online greenwash you: Just because an animal appears to be free ranging, it doesn’t mean horrible things haven’t happened to him or her for the purpose of fashion. If you are going to purchase an animal-based fashion product, ensure it is of the highest animal welfare standards and that cruel practises, such as mulesing have not been used.
- Don’t sit back and believe all you read in retailer’s ads: Retailers should be kept accountable to their claims about cruelty free products. Ask the brand’s management how are they ensuring their advertising claims are true? Keep on asking questions like, can they ensure standards of animal welfare right through from farm to fibre, until the clothes were displayed on the store shelves?
Most important after you have ticked the boxes on the Do’s and Don’ts, make a pledge to #WearitKind. And enjoy your kinder shopping!
