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Solutions to a Vegan Dilemma: Cruelty-Free Winter Coats

While it is getting easier and easier, as the movement towards cruelty-free dressing grows, to find beautiful, fashionable clothes (in fact, another image consultant (non-vegan) recently complimented me on my stylish (vegan, of course) boots), finding an attractive dress coat with some degree of warmth is still lagging behind. Yes, the gen-Y’s have no problem since they often love the trendy, more casual looks. But for gen-X and baby boomers, the pickings are slim!

Before I give you some suggestions, I know that to some people the idea that wearing wool is something to be concerned about at all is a foreign concept. What’s so cruel about shearing sheep, you might wonder? Oh, dear, where do I begin… First of all, a large majority of the wool we wear is merino wool from Australia (they’ve done a great job marketing it as high quality). Sadly, they are known for using a procedure on sheep known as “mulesing.” Because merino wool sheep have been bred to have more folds than originally intended, they have constant problems with fly infestations on their backends that can cause infection and often death. So, without the aid of anesthesia, the farmers cut off the skin on the sheep’s hind ends to smooth the area and reduce the potential for “fly strike.”

With all those folds in their skin you can also imagine the horrors that abound when they are sheared and speed is expected. Eventually, they end up in the slaughterhouse (that’s a long dreadful story about how they get there) as meat. So, there you go, the wildly abridged explanation!

It is for these reasons and more that vegans, who are committed to cruelty-free living, steer clear of wool. Want more information? Click Here

So, for those of you looking for vegan options for a pretty winter coat, check these out:

I just purchased this one.

Sure, black is not my best neutral but I thought I would be wrapping myself in a polar fleece blanket if I held out for brown!

 

I love this one but I need it a tad longer, and I’d prefer different color options (they say they are coming!):

 

 

This one is brown (didn’t see this one until I’d gotten the other) and uses faux leather:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It can be done and the good news is that the more the demand increases, the more widespread choices we’ll have. Please join me!

 

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Ginger Burr is a fashion stylist and personal shopper serving clients worldwide from metro Boston.

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