According to Empathy.co, some 35% of us in Britain shop only for “responsible brands” when doing our online shopping (whether guiltily, still wrapped in a dressing gown and seeking a little high from a spot of retail therapy, or not….). While, in comparison to 62% of decisions about food and drink being dictated by their sustainability and eco-friendly credentials, what we buy for ourselves otherwise is 52% determined by ethics, both environmental and humanitarian. However, a recent study conducted by The Vegan Society found that 95% of us here in the UK want more vegan fashion. Apparently, 97% of us also want more vegan-certified toiletries and cosmetics, even though, as of August last year, of the 55,611 products registered under the Vegan Trademark, already 24,117 of those were cosmetics and toiletries (circa 43%). Fashionwise, in 2019 the market worldwide for women’s vegan clothing and accessories was worth an estimated £289 billion, and it is predicted that by 2027, that figure will have reached £799 billion. Countries are cottoning on to the fact that people no longer want to be buying products begotten from animal suffering. With Ireland’s fur ban due to be fully implemented this year (the Prohibition of Fur Farming Bill first passed in 2019), it will become the 15th European country to ban fur. The cruelty of such a trade is evident. Take mink, for example: solitary and highly territorial animals that thrive in watery environs, to place these creatures in cramped cages tightly packed next to other mink, all to harvest their fur, is unconscionable. However, the fundamental ethics of mink fur farms was somehow secondary to fears of Covid-19 spreading through them and potentially infecting more humans, and the mass cull of mink infected with the virus in the Netherlands made headlines. 56
justnaturalhealth.co.uk | Just Natural Health & Beauty
Meanwhile, Heller-Leder – the globally recognisable name in leather – has teamed up with Bolt Threads, makers of mushroom leather Mylo. Really. HellerLeder, the conventional tannery of choice for outfitting Porsche, has not worked with another material in its entire 100year history. Bolt Threads has said that the partnership came about due to Mylo’s “quality, functionality, and durability” comparable to animal-sourced leather. Later this year, we’ll apparently see further Mylo collaborations with Adidas, Lululemon, and Stella McCartney, following the latter’s Mylo bag debut at Paris Fashion Week last year, subsequent to a duo of garments crafted from the material. Mylo’s Director of Sustainability, Libby Sommer, explained the recent success of mushroom leather succinctly: “A planet of 10 billion people cannot live like a planet of 1 billion people”. In other words, needs must.
