Last week Los Angeles celebrated Vegan Fashion Week with fashion professionals, celebrities, and influencers embracing brands that are clean and cruelty-free. This year, Vegan Fashion Week proposed three days of events and a unique show in partnership with Ukrainian Fashion Week hosted at California Market Center. A show placed under the sign of compassion and unprecedented support was sent to the Ukrainian fashion designers.

We need more of that, for sure. But what is it exactly why should we care?

Vegan or Sustainable Fashion Explained

Let’s start with the obvious. Vegan fashion means there are no animals involved in it; so your leather jackets are out of the window and so is animal testing. But it goes further than that. Let’s unpack it:

• Sustainable fashion, also known as eco-fashion, is the term used to describe fashion that has a minimal carbon footprint, and that is built on social justice.
• So no, no shoes made by kids for 10 cents an hour in Bangladesh and have cero ecological integrity apply.
• The products used don’t have toxic dyes that contaminate the environment and potentially cause health issues to those who manufacture or wear them.

There are three main principles that sustainable fashion follows:

Reduce – using less material or using materials that have a lower impact on the environment, such as cotton.

Reuse – using upcycled materials rather than new ones. This can include visiting your Thrift store more often, and reusing old clothes, bags, shoes, etc. It also includes using upholstery fabric from old furniture to make new furniture cushions.

Recycling – The process of recycling includes separating, cleaning and repairing clothing before it can be resold or used again.

The City of Los Angeles presented Vegan Fashion Week with a Certificate of Recognition celebrating the movement for spreading the message of compassion as a pillar of world peace and highlighting the connections between humans, biodiversity, and our impact on the planet.

We applaud that!