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Clothing
Vegetarians should avoid clothing that uses animals at all costs. There are many types of materials used to resemble animal skin or fur and not only are they better for the animals sake, but are also a whole lot cheaper.
Faux (fake) Fur
Fake fur is vegetarian and vegan friendly, however it is not often liked by vegetarians and vegans as it resembles still the fur of an animal.
Pleather
Pleather is synthetic leather, this makes wonderful clothing and is a great non-leather lookalike material for footwear, jackets, coats, shoes, boots, belts and accessories. It is an easily obtainable material for people who choose not to wear animal products. Non-leather products such as plastic shoes are a great alternative, some looking almost like leather, and are a cheaper, more animal friendly alternative to leather.
Silk
This product, considered a luxurious one comes at the expense of boiling silk worms alive when companies harvest them. However, vegans easily avoid wearing silk because there are many alternatives on the market for clothing items such as scarfs, ties, cravats, shirts, etc.
Down (feathers)
These feathers, known as down come from chickens, ducks, geese and other birds. They are used for filling jackets, duvets and pillows, etc. These may be called an unwanted by-product, but they are a part of a cruel, barbaric industry that kills and eats these birds and their eggs and uses their feathers. There are many synthetic alternatives.
Wool
Sheep are exploited for their wool and then slaughtered. Merino wool has been promoted as a new type of wool. This wool comes from sheep where selective breeding has resulted in extra hair and therefore more skin produced on their bodies. Wrinkled skin encourages infestation of insects which is very unpleasent for the sheep. These portions of excess skin are cut off which is called mulesing. Thus lambs have tails and sheep do not.
Cashmere wool comes from goats, angora wool comes from rabbits, angora goats produce what is known as mohair. All these products from animals are avoided by vegans. It may be said that these are by-products from animals and do not actually cause much harm. However, for instance, the chemicals that are used in sheep dips transmit to the craft and wool workers, which causes them to suffer very poor health and illnesses related to the absorbtion through the skin of the chemicals. Also wool means grazing and waste. Many synthetic or plant fibre based products are readily available on the market today.
Animal Skins
Snakes and lizards are being skinned alive in the belief that live flaying, imparts suppleness to the leather.
Goats may be boiled alive to make kid leather gloves and skins of purposely aborted calves and lambs, these are considered an especially luxurious leather. Other species are killed specifically for their skins such as zebra, bison, water buffalo, boars, deer, seals and walruses.
A large percentage of imported crocodile shoe leather and other animal skins comes from illegally endangered species.
© 2010 change2veggie.com
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Vegetarian Clothes
