Can you even buy new clothes as a vegan?

Obviously if I didn’t believe you can, we wouldn’t be here so for me it’s a big fat  - YES. But, there is a but.

Yesterday I came across a really interesting post on instagram, which really put some things into perspective for me ( if you know me, you know I like to look at things from all angles to get the full picture. Because nothing is black or white. Amirite? ) It was by @ssustainably_ and I really think you should check it out.

Basically the idea of the post was that - even it might seem that second hand shopping is the best thing for us to do - it doesn’t necessarily have to be the truth.
As more and more people turn to this way of living (the resale market is growing 24 times faster than retail), the prices are hiking up, which is driving people who relied on thrift shopping into position where they can’t afford to do so. Which leads to creating the full circle - they turn to the cheapest of fast fashion and there we go, we still didn’t save the planet.


When I was deciding on what company I was going to use to fulfil my orders, I looked past just the price ( which if you know me, you know that it’s shocking - because the only thing I spent my money on happily - is food ) but also at their practices and their approach to sustainability.
The company I use came at the top when it came to their interest in such topics, and their actions speak louder than empty words would.

1. Print on demand
This already is a huge step as it takes the overproduction out of the equation completely. 92 million tons of unsold stock ends up in landfill every single year. That’s without clothes that has been sold and worn. This is just what shops can’t sell before the next season.
In my store all of the items are fulfilled when and only after you place your order. That way there’s no stock holding, no unsold items and if something ever goes wrong, my company donates the items to local charity.

2. Sustainable suppliers
Bella and Canvas is the leading supplier when it comes to eco-friendly garments. From their water reduction - using 7 times less water than is the industry standard and saving 24.000.000 gallons of water a week, to using energy exchange steam instead of cheap steam ( that’s powered by biomas which causes deforestation), to having solar powered their whole headquarters and sewing and cutting facilities. For more information ( and super interesting video on the topic ) head to https://www.bellacanvas.com/eco_friendly

3. Direct to garment printing is more sustainable than older apparel printing methods such as screen printing as well. Not only does screen printing use a lot of water and plastisol inks that don’t biodegrade, but it’s also tended towards bulk orders which can lead to overproduction. The printing is taken care off by the specialists in directly to garment - Kornit who are known for producing almost zero wastewater a biodegradable vegan NeoPigment inks that are water-based, toxin-free and non-hazardous.

4. The fulfilment centres are scattered all over the world ( Europe, USA, Mexico, Japan, Australia and more on the way ) which means that your orders are made close to you and don’t need to travel across the entire world to get to you resulting in less air and water pollution.

As well as ongoing efforts to cut plastic packaging, eliminating any energy waste, recycling and setting a goal to to reduce amount of fabric scraps left when producing our cut & sew products.


And as I don’t want to keep you all day, I shall end this here. I think that shopping second hand is a great thing, but I also think that we should hold companies as accountable as possible and make sure they produce their stock in such sustainable way that we will be able to buy new stuff when we want to. And I hope I stand up to your standards and will see you rocking your gobby vegan merch soon!

Nat xox