Reviving the Silenced; Defining Vegan Fashion and Classifying Materials of Animal Origin

Abstract

The ongoing growth of clothing, footwear, and accessories marketed as vegan requires the development of a usable definition for the segment, as well as a review of the classification system which has permeated the use of materials of animal origin within fashion. Guided by literature on fashion, veganism, and animal agriculture, this conceptual article discusses the tangible enactment of ideological values when applied in the context of fashion products and materials. Established within this article is that a vegan fashion or textile product be defined as one that ensures, throughout the supply chain, and in the fibers, materials and chemicals that were used to manufacture the end-product, to be devoid of any forms of animal involvement, namely through the avoidance of animal products, co-products, and by-products. Also suggested is that definitions of materials of animal origin should be reframed to acknowledge the level of involvement required from animals and insects in obtaining materials, namely their death, labor, or secretions. While traditional relationships between humans and animals are rarely questioned, this article, by recentring the animals as unwilling participants in the commercialization of their bodies, offers new ways to reflect upon the fashion industry’s use of animals as resources.