7 Growing Vegan Fashion Trends


Vegan fashion including cruelty-free cosmetics and completely animal-free clothes, accessories and shoes - once snickered at as a short-lived fad at best - is now becoming fashionable. Even top luxury brands are catching on and increasingly do without fur, angora, mohair, exotic skins and even leather, wool and silk. Innovations in plant based sources, environmentally friendly materials and consumer awareness are the driving forces behind the winds of change in the fashion industry. Here are seven trends that show how.


1. While first practiced mainly by a growing groups of enthusiasts, veganism is becoming a way of living and a lifestyle choice for an ever growing part of society. In fact, it has become the V word: the animal-free ethical trend booming across fashion, beauty and homewear .

2. A plethora of new, reusable innovative materials like fur coats made from hemp, bags made of bananas and shoe soles made of chewing gum serve as alternatives to fur, leather and even synthetic fabrics. From this year’s MaterialDistrict event held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands .

3. Vegan fashion is in. But the boom is calling on more and more critics, who accuse animal rights activists of lacking sustainability, of all things. 

4. Banning fur, US cities are leading the way, with Los Angeles and San Francisco having already become fur free while New York City is following suit: Proposed legislation aims to ban fur sales in New York .

5. Fashion giants in leading nations like the US, UK, Germany and France are investing most in the vegan market. 

6. The year 2018 has been marked by apparel companies banning plastics, releasing plant-based products, promoting recycled textiles and backing startups bringing sustainable innovations to the table, to name but a few initiatives. 

7. The first-ever Vegan Fashion Week made its grand debut in Downtown Los Angeles on February 1. The weekend included a series of events for designers, media and influencers, as well as the public, to attend and learn more about the animal rights movement in the fashion industry. 

If those seven trends should really become mainstream, the future of the flora and fauna of our planet looks promising with more and more fashion brands and retailers taking responsibility.  

Vegan Studio: Actor, Actress, Model, Designer, Writer



Vegan Studio: Actor, Actress, Model, Designer, Writer



Vegan Sudesh: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give


As Sir Winston Churchill puts it – “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” By volunteering with us, you not only benefit lives of many families in a ‪#‎vegan‬ way, but also your own as well. It’s time to invest in your future as well. There is no better time to invest in your future than now. So what are you waiting for, simply email your resume to: vegan@sudesh.org to join us in any way you feel you can help Vegan Sudesh to reach it's goal to make the future a brighter one.

A will to change is all you need. Some of the ways are outlined below.
=> Spread the word: tell your friends about us, share about us on social media.
=> Volunteer: your skill and time is invaluable to us. You can share it with our social platform.
=> Media: truly your pen is mightier than the sword! If you belong to the media profession, help us further our cause by writing about us.


WhatsApp Group Link: Vegan Fashion Broadcast



WhatsApp Group Link: Vegan Fashion Broadcast

To join, DM at any of our socialmedia page 
or 
Email your whatsapp no to:
vegan@sudesh.org


Vegan Models, Fashion & Activism


We should highlight some of the sexier things in the vegan world. There are many perks to eating a more plant based diet but one of the best is the radiant physical beauty.

 instagr.am/vegan.model page is about our multimedia project promoting veganism by exposing vegan beauty, strength and diversity. 
 

This is a project by Vegan Sudesh. Our team is set out to do photoshoots with vegan men and women to really show the aesthetic side of the lifestyle. 


 Vegan Sudesh
Vegan Fashion & Activism



The First Vegan Supermarket in Europe

 
The First Vegan Supermarket of Europe

 

Forget beer and bratwurst, Dortmund now houses Europe's only all-vegan supermarket. Offering chocolates, fake tuna and even dog food, the store is hoping to cash in on a small but rapidly growing market.

 

Renowned for its mining industry and blue-collar attitude, Dortmund is an unlikely choice for Europe's first vegan supermarket.

 

"If someone opens a supermarket that has no animal products in them, that seems crazy," said animal ethicist and store owner Ralf Kalkowski. "But people are celebrating."

 

Vegilicious, which opened on February 26, occupies over 100 square meters in the city-centre, technically making it the only vegan supermarket in Europe.

 

Using soy, spices, and oils to supplement traditional animal-based ingredients, the shelves are stacked with over 1500 products. Vegilicious offers chocolate bars, cereals, and even meat imitations, like fake chicken wings, which use cane sugar sticks to serve as 'bones.'

 

"People say they can't live without cheese, but we've got 30 different cheese alternatives," said Kalkowski, who co-owns Vegilicious with wife Kim. "You can have anything you think you might be missing, so there's no need to eat animal products anymore."

 

Starting with a café and online shop, the Kalkowski's and their 16 staff have so far maintained a customer flow of 120-150 people per day. They have even managed to attract non-human clients, selling vegan dog- and cat food.

 

"It's ridiculous if you rescue one animal, but feed them with another dead animal," he said.

 

What is veganism?

 

Vegans abstain from foods containing any animal products, including egg, honey and milk. This differs from vegetarians, who only renounce meat.

 

"Vegans believe animals should be left alone, it's not just about avoiding cruelty", said Amanda Baker, from the Vegan Society UK. "If animals are farmed, you have to take away their freedom."

 

Baker told Deutsche Welle that many male animals are killed at birth because they cannot reproduce, while females are exploited for artificial breeding, which dramatically decreases their life expectancy.

 

"For example, the dairy industry and the meat industry are the same industry. You can't separate one from the other," she said.

 

Aside from animal ethics, some turn to veganism to stem environmental problems. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector is responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, as well as being a major cause of deforestation and water pollution.

 

Veganism can also reap health benefits, as high meat consumption has been linked to cardio-vascular diseases, which are responsible for 49% of European deaths annually.

 

Kalkowski explained that many older customers have shopped at Vegilicious for health reasons as his products are cholesterol free.

 

Veganism has been stigmatized as expensive and excessive and vegans are often regarded as extremists for going beyond vegetarianism, according to Kalkowski, who laments the reactions of some meat-eaters to the opening of Vegilicious.

 

He said that when his supermarket was first mentioned in the press, the paper was forced to remove online comments inciting a pro-meat flash mob before his store.

 

He thinks these prejudices are based on myths, of which the biggest is the assumption that a meatless diet deprives the body of vital nutrients.

 

"You can get all necessary nutrients from a plant based diet, except for vitamin B12," Kalkowski explained, "and that's one thing we supplement with a product from the UK."

 

Importing products from the UK, US and even Australia is common, but a significant portion of vegan merchandise is produced locally, according to Germany's biggest Vegan Wholesaler, AVE. 

 

AVE owner Tobias Graf believes veganism's popularity is expanding, not least because his business is booming.

 

"In the last few years a lot of new products were established, produced and discovered," he said.  "We've personally grown year by year, 100% for the past three years."

 

It is not only vegans who are catching onto the craze, "No, I'm not vegan," one Vegilicious shopper explained. "I have never tried real vegan food. I think it's good so I can now try."

 

Ralf Kalkowski hopes his supermarket will entice more people to buy animal-free food, but the question remains - how do vegan products truly taste?

 

"It even tastes better," he said, "because you have a good conscious."

 

Author: Hannah Wandel

Editor: Nathan Witkop

 

Source: Deutsche Welle /10/03/2011

 

Human Rights of Domination & Abuse

Human Rights of Domination & Abuse?

 

*PURPOSE: The purpose of this essay is to present the truth about modern industrialized factory farming – A human system of domination, abuse & the genocide of animals. We humans often gather to party & celebrate; we raise & clink our glasses & we say: Cheers! Then we spear pieces of meat with our forks & we fill our bellies with the pain & suffering of farm animals. Please come & follow me as I now take on the identity of a Baby calf for this essay.

 

*The SUN: I have never seen the Sun with it's white rays of light that shine down to the Earth.. I have never heard the birds sing in the morning that greet the new day. I have never seen the wind blow gently through a field of wild grasses. I have never looked out at a vast landscape in the distance. & I have never looked up to see the eternal blue sky. Where is the sun? Where is the beautiful sun? I want to be intimate with the Sun, the wind & the sky. But, I will never see this Sun that I so deeply yearn for.

 

*MY BIRTHDAY: I am a Baby calf. I was born on an industrialized factory farm in August 2010. It was a noisy day at the farm. My mother gave birth to me & I fell to the cold cement ground here in this concrete building. My mother licked me & I felt her gentle touch. I nursed with her & slept near her for only a precious few days. Then an angry Homo Sapien man with a rope & a stick beat me & lead me to my new home: A cage. I struggled with this human & I cried to my mother. I did not want to leave her. I remember seeing my sad mother fade away in the distance as I was taken away. I never saw my mother again.

 

*MILK, YOGURT & CHEESE: I was born so that humans can eat dairy products such as Milk, cheese, butter & yogurt. My mother will go off now to give her cow's milk to humans – rather than to me. I am only a byproduct of the dairy industry. I will be slaughtered for veal, baby calves liver, leather shoes & leather coats.

 

*CAGES: Now I am here alone in this small cage, in a fluorescent lit, cold cement building with ammonia fumes & desperate animal sounds. I am fed unpleasant food. I am injected with antibiotics & hormones to plump me up for slaughter. I can not move around. I want to run & jump as all baby animals do. I want to run in a meadow & see the wild flowers & hear the sparrows sing. But, here I am in this alienating, existential & lonely Homo Sapien industrialized factory farm.

 

*CRAZY: Some of the other baby calves are going crazy. One of them bites at the cage & rocks back & forth all day. Another baby calf hits his head against the cage & kicks the walls trying to escape. & Another calf just lays there all day staring out into space.

 

*HOMO SAPIENS: The humans who work here are emotionally disturbed people.

 

*George: There's George who hates animals; He swears at the animals & he beats them; He has a rage deep down in his soul; He was abused as a child; Now as an adult he likes the power & control he has over animals; He enjoys getting revenge on animals for all the shame & humiliation he endured as a child.

 

*Larry: Then, there's Larry who is part of the human conspiracy against animals; Larry says that God told man to dominate, conquer & exploit animals for human use; Larry doesn't care whether animals feel pain or fear; Larry has turned his brain off in order to kill & eat animals; Larry in turn teaches his children the party line -- that it's okay to harm animals for human use.

 

*VEAL MEAT, BABY CALVES LIVER & LEATHER COATS & SHOES: A Restaurant, a Grocery store & a Clothing store put in an order for: Veal meat, Baby Calves liver & a Leather coat & Leather shoes – on a Monday. So my farmer calls in a work order for a transport truck on Tuesday & slaughter time on Wednesday. On Thursday I will be the special entrées of the day: Veal with wine & Baby calves liver with onions. On Friday I will be hung on a rack as a leather coat & on display as leather shoes for sale.

 

*SLAUGHTER: It is February 2011. I am now 6 months old & it is time for me to be slaughtered. I am anemic & weak; I am covered in sores & my spirit is broken. A frowning human comes to take me away this day; He uses a pitch fork to prod me out of the building onto the truck. I stumble into the back of the truck, pushed by other baby calves. When the truck is full, we travel off to the slaughter yard. It is a cold day & the wind blows & I shake. One of the sick baby calves falls to the floor of the truck & is stepped on by other calves; That baby calf dies there alone on that crowded truck: haemorrhaging out, with a broken hip -- while no one in the universe cares. When we arrive at the slaughter house I hear frightening sounds, the cries of the dying in the distance. We walk down a long dark path, in single file. I am so afraid. I have given up all hope. Now it is my turn to die. My life is about to end. Good-bye mother, good-bye other baby calves, good-bye planet Earth. The human puts an electric bolt gun up to my forehead. I hear a loud zap. Electricity races through my head & body; I see lightning; My head & body burn; I stiffen, then I breathe my last breath & I fall to the Earth. & I die.

  

Mary Hamer

 

Animal Rights Advocacy Group

SUDESH KUMAR FOUNDATION

 
Email: animal.rights@sudeshkumar.org