The vegan shoes you’ll actually want to wear ( ...and they’re from M&S!)
- Hanna Woodside gave an insight into the best brands offering vegan fashion
- An estimated 3.5 million Brits are predicted to embrace the veganism trend
- Brands including Coach, Burberry and Michael Kors are aiming to go fur-free
- The very first Vegan Fashion Week is set to take place next month in Los Angeles
Have you filled your fridge with cauliflower ‘steaks’ for Veganuary? Did you rush to Greggs to sample one of its sell-out vegan sausage rolls?
If you haven’t jumped on the plant-based wagon, grab yourself an oat milk latte and get on board. With the number of Brits going vegan skyrocketing to an estimated 3.5 million (Waitrose has increased its vegan food offering by 223 per cent to keep up with demand), veganism is the hottest trend for 2019.
And the next big thing: making sure your wardrobe is as vegan as your kitchen. That means no fur, no leather, no suede. You’ll need to skip shearling, angora and mohair, too.
Eschewing real feathers and crocodile skin might be fairly simple if you’re not Cruella de Vil, but vegan fashion also means no silk (silkworms are often steamed inside their cocoons to obtain the precious threads), no cashmere (it’s made from the soft undercoat of mountain goats) — and no wool (PETA says the shearing process can hurt sheep).
Hanna Woodside shared advice for embracing the trend for vegan fashion, designers including Burberry (pictured) have committed to going fur-free
With veganism no longer a niche trend for eco-warriors and evangelical A-listers, the global fashion industry has had to respond to the increased scrutiny of its ethical practices, which are harder to ignore in the age of Insta-activism. Appealing to a new ‘woke’ generation of customers is a commercial imperative.
Established designers such as Coach, Burberry, Diane von Furstenberg and Michael Kors have committed to going fur-free.
More than 300 brands including Gap, Mango and Zara agreed to stop selling mohair after PETA released evidence of goat mistreatment in the supply chain.
London Fashion Week has been entirely fur-free since last September, while Helsinki Fashion Week has gone further and banned leather on its catwalk as of this year. The very first Vegan Fashion Week will take place next month in Los Angeles.
There are even dedicated dating apps if you want to keep your love life vegan.
But the proof that vegan fashion is now truly mainstream? This month Marks & Spencer unveiled its vegan shoe range, with 350 styles boasting the vegan logo you’ll already find in its food and beauty aisles.
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‘We’ve seen a 200 per cent rise in online searches for vegan-related products,’ says Phil Townsend, sustainable raw materials specialist for M&S.
‘We’ve offered synthetic shoes for a number of years, but over the past nine months we’ve made sure every component of our vegan footwear is made without animal derivatives, from the trims to the adhesives [shoe glues often use animal products].’
The phrase ‘vegan shoes’ might conjure up nightmarish images of felt clogs and clunky cork sandals, but in the M&S spring range you’ll find lipstick-red kitten-heeled court shoes (£19.50, marksand spencer.com, top), trainers with a rainbow stripe (£25) and a pair of statement block-heeled courts with a striped ankle strap (£35).
‘Our synthetic materials are premium quality, which means they have the look and feel of leather,’ says Phil. Up close you’d be hard-pushed to know the court shoes weren’t genuine leather. They have none of the squeakiness you associate with man-made materials.
The global worth of faux leather is predicted to reach £66 billion by 2025 (file image)
Other retailers have cottoned on to the rising demand, too. Schuh has a vegan section on its website, with zebra-print loafers (£8.99, schuh.co.uk) and Chelsea boots (£17.99).
Esprit, Dr Martens and Toms all have decent vegan-friendly shoes, approved by PETA, so you won’t get caught out with animal-based dyes and glues.
ASOS — which recently won a PETA award for banning the sale of mohair, cashmere, feathers and silk — does a great pair of women’s brogues (£25, asos.com) made from next-generation faux leather, a water-based polyurethane with a smaller environmental impact than other plastic-based synthetics. (Just because a material is vegan doesn’t mean it’s necessarily environmentally-friendly).
Fashion snobs may associate real leather with luxury, but with the global faux leather market predicted to be worth $85 billion (£66 billion) by 2025, a wave of vegan designers are intent on proving their wares can be just as beautiful and well-crafted.
John Lewis stocks boutique Canadian label Matt & Nat — its chic handbags are favourites with vegan celebrities such as actress Katie Holmes. The circular crossbody bag in cherry red (below right, £98, johnlewis.com) is particularly lust-worthy.
There are plenty of British labels conquering the vegan market, too. For sleek, modern watches with a pared-back aesthetic try Votch (votch.co.uk) or Aubry (below left, aubrywatches.com).
Actress Natalie Portman put Brighton-based vegan shoe designers Beyond Skin on the style map, wearing a pair of their heels on the cover of U.S. Harper’s Bazaar.
Its gorgeous, Prada-esque embroidered slippers (below far right, £139, beyond-skin.com) use faux-suede made from 100 per cent recycled plastic. Unlike real suede, it doesn’t get those dreaded watermarks; Jaguar uses it in its car interiors.
Meanwhile, London brand LaBante has cracked the art of recreating leather’s distinctive texture. Its vegan leather undergoes a special process to give it that lovely ‘grain’. There’s a high-quality finish, too; look closely at, say, the Sophie tote (£200, labante.co.uk) and you’ll see that the lining and stitching are exquisite.
Vanita Bagri who founded LaBante says people are starting to realise that vegan styles, made by the right designer are just as desirable as real leather (file image)
‘When we first started out as a brand, many department stores we met with couldn’t understand why we were using such high levels of craftsmanship,’ says LaBante’s founder Vanita Bagri.
‘They thought non-leather bags shouldn’t be priced over £80. There was a mindset that synthetic materials could only create ugly, peeling bags. But people are realising vegan styles, made by the right designers, are every bit as desirable as the “real” thing.’
Her customers are ‘clued up’ about sustainability, but, she adds: ‘I’m also designing for fashion-forward women.’
Stylist Rebekah Roy, who has worked with the likes of Erin O’Connor and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, says attitudes have shifted.
As one of the organisers behind the launch of Bare Fashion, a London event showcasing vegan clothing and beauty products, she says the sector is evolving rapidly.
‘There are so many brands changing our perception of vegan fashion. The French vegan trainer brand Veja, for example, has had a huge cult following ever since the Duchess of Sussex and Emma Watson were seen wearing its trainers,’ she says.
In case you’re wondering, Meghan Markle wore the Esplar style (far left, £95, harveynichols.com).
Even Net-a-Porter, the go-to destination for serious designer fashion, is getting in on the vegan action.
Next time you’re filling a fantasy shopping basket, take a look at Hungarian brand Nanushka, by London College of Fashion graduate Sandra Sandor. Her vegan leather midi-dress (£500), and mock-croc jacket (£357, both net-a-porter.com) are worlds away from any hemp-tunic cliche.
For less pricey options, try Kitri’s vegan leather culottes (below left, £95, selfridges.com), or Free People’s vegan leather midi skirt (£88, freepeople.com).
Stella McCartney is currently collaborating with Bolt Threads to develop vegan silk made from yeast and sugar (file image)
Net-a-Porter also stocks Fuzz Not Fur, purveyors of PETA-approved faux fur coats. Crafted in a family-run atelier in Paris, they mimic the volume and softness of real fur — and the price. The Oh My Deer coat comes in at £955.
Designer faux fur needn’t be that expensive, though. Jackets from super-cool Shrimps start at £375 (shrimps.co.uk).
Jakke London do similar colour-popping designs (far left, jakke.co.uk) with the PETA seal of approval (and Kate Moss’s: she was spotted in one of the brand’s furry scarves).
At the cutting edge of vegan design is Polish designer Alexandra Koscikiewicz. She creates bags using apple-leather, made of reworked pips and peel left over from harvested apples (prices from £220, alexandrak.co).
If you think wearing fruit is out there, Stella McCartney is collaborating with biotech company Bolt Threads to create a vegan silk made from yeast and sugar.
The fashion house also sponsored a prize to find viable vegan alternatives to wool (one of the hardest materials to mimic).
The winning innovation, Woocoa, uses coconut fibres treated with mushroom enzymes.
Back on the humble High Street, it’s a little less high-tech.
‘But it’s import-ant that brands including M&S, and big online retailers such as ASOS, are starting to introduce vegan styles, if sustainable fashion is to become normalised,’ says Rebekah.
OK, it will be a while yet before we’re buying yeast-silk blouses in M&S, but vegan fashion has certainly shaken off its ‘hessian sack’ image and replaced it with a brand new attitude.
It’s official: vegan is the new black — for January at least!
