July 06, 2017

What are Vegan Baby Clothes?

By Verena Barthel
What are Vegan Baby Clothes?

You don't eat your clothes so what are vegan baby clothes about? Here's how and why to choose vegan clothing, shoes, and accessories.

Vegan clothing is any garment made without animal products. Some animal products, like leather, are pretty obvious, but others might be a little harder to spot. Here's a list of things to avoid, if you want to keep dead animals out of families closet:

  • leather
  • fur
  • silk
  • feathers
  • bone
  • horn
  • shell
  • wool
  • cashmere
  • shearling
  • angora
  • shahtoosh
  • snakeskin
  • suede (microsuede is animal free, though)
  • down
  • pashmina
  • mohair
Animal products can hide in unexpected places, so be sure to read the label on clothes before you buy. If you want some help, Happy Cow has a handy guide to common alternatives to leather, fur, wool, down, and silk.

If you have decided to take the vegan approach to raising your children, or even if you just want to make a few small lifestyle changes Elves in the Wardrobe have some great reasons to add vegan baby clothes to your infant's wardrobe.

Vegan Baby Clothes are Eco-Friendly, and Baby Friendly

Cotton growing accounts for a huge amount of the world's pesticide use, and if you wouldn't spray your baby with pesticides, then why spray your baby's clothing with it? Choosing vegan baby clothing ensures that no nasties have been used on your baby's clothes. From growing the organic cotton for baby clothing, to using organic and skin-safe dyes when the fabric is coloured.

This leaves the fabric wonderfully soft and perfect to dress your baby in. With no chemicals weakening the integrity of the fabric, the material will also last much longer, meaning you'll get many more washes out of your organic cotton baby clothing before it wears thin.

Vegan Baby Clothes Avoid Harming Others to Dress Your Child

Veganism isn't just a diet, it's way of life aimed at causing as little harm as possible. This means that the production of organic cotton baby clothing isn't just about how the fabric is grown. Our clothing is certified Fairtrade, organic, and vegan. This means that we keep our watchful eye on its production from seed to seam.

At Elves in the Wardrobe, we choose our clothing with as much social sense as we do ethical sense. For example our German Eco fashion label sense organics works closely with the Bridge School sector of the CRC. In particular, the SAVE organisation in Tiruppur, as this is right at the heart of sense organics main manufacturing hub. Bridge Schools help children who have been rescued, many from textile factories, back into education to help them lead successful lives. Bridge Schools promote a child-labour free society, in the hope that one day everyone can share the same ethics. After all, why harm someone else's baby, be it human or animal, just to dress your own?

Bring a More Peaceful Life to Your Household

When a lot of people think of veganism, they think about the diet and then stop there. However, if they apply that same thinking to clothing, then leather and fur are obvious no-nos. Still, wool is often forgotten about. After all, wool has long been considered to be a natural fibre, the production of which causes no more damage to the animal than shaving your beard or getting a haircut.
Unfortunately, with modern wool-production methods, this is no longer true. Without going into too many of the gory details (click on the link for more information), selective breeding has caused some sheep to have wrinkled skin which causes more nicks, cuts, and consequently infections. To stop infections damaging the wool, farmers have developed mulesing an incredibly cruel practice which in itself causes infections. Thanks to mass farming, the process of shearing itself has become damaging and barbaric.

Luckily, we live in an age where organic cotton is easily accessible, and is much softer on your baby's skin than wool would be. Adopting a vegan lifestyle, and starting with your baby's clothes, can lead you down a far more peaceful and planet friendly path this 2017.