Top Five Faux-Wool Coats

Like it or not, your winter coat is going to be your constant companion for the next few months – so it’s important to choose wisely. Compassionate fashion is all the rage this season, and with so many warm, stylish options to choose from, there is just no need to wear wool (or any other animal product for that matter!). Wrap up in warmth and strut your stuff with a faux-wool number like the ones featured here. Following the trend of bold colours, big collars and ladylike silhouettes, these coats prove that you can be in vogue without being inhumane.

Why ditch wool? Sheep used for their wool have their tails cut off and are castrated without any painkillers when they are just babies. People who shear the wool are paid by volume, not by the hour, which means that they work roughly and fast. This often leaves the sheep with open gashes that can become infected. In Australia – where a lot of the world’s wool originates – farmers use gardening shears to cut huge chunks of skin and flesh from lambs’ backsides (also without any painkillers) in a cruel practice called “mulesing.” And after all that, when the sheep no longer produce enough wool, they are crammed onto export ships to be sent to the Middle East, where they are cruelly slaughtered.

Love sheep? Hate wool? Pledge to go wool-free.

Contrast Coat – Miss Selfridge – £50