PETA Fashion Awards 2021
As consumer demand for ethical fashion keeps rising, fashion brands increasingly offer clothing for which animals weren’t beaten, slaughtered, or skinned – as well as items made with materials that are less harmful to the environment. The PETA Fashion Awards celebrate the labels, style icons, and forward-thinking designers that have made big statements for animals in 2021.
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Biggest Fur-Free Moment: Kering bans fur
As the first-ever fashion house to make all its brands fur-free, Kering is setting the standard for other luxury houses to follow – and proving once again that fur has no place in fashion.
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Progress Award: GANNI goes leather-free
The fashion industry is realising that leather is cruel to animals and destructive to the environment, and GANNI is leading the way by focusing on vegan materials, such as leather made from wine grapes.
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Best Luxury Moment: Valentino and Armani ban angora
Angora, which is made by pulling the hair out of fully conscious rabbits, has fallen out of fashion. The latest proof of this is the implementation of bans on the cruelly produced material by luxury giants Valentino and Armani.
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Collaboration Award: Nike and Ananas Anam’s ‘Happy Pineapple’ collection
Iconic sportswear brand Nike has teamed up with material innovation company Ananas Anam on a vegan-friendly collection of sneakers using Piñatex – an animal-free leather made from pineapple leaf fibres. The eco-conscious, super-stylish range features updated versions of Nike’s classic designs – without stealing any animal’s skin.
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Innovation Award: Gucci’s Demetra
When even Gucci goes vegan, you know that change is here to stay. The luxury fashion brand has created Demetra, its own in-house vegan leather crafted from 77% raw plant-based materials. This new textile will be used to create covetable Gucci accessories that no animals were made to suffer or die for.
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Best Vegan Bag: Stella McCartney’s ‘Frayme Mylo’ bag
Mushroom leather is the latest on-trend vegan material, and Stella McCartney is leading the way as usual. The animal-friendly designer’s Frayme bag is made from Mylo – mycelium leather created by material solutions company Bolt Threads.
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Best Vegan Shoes: Allkind
Whether you’re looking for versatile boots, casual sneakers, or sophisticated pumps, you’ll find the vegan shoe for you at Allkind. What you won’t encounter is even a trace of animal skin: this stylish label is 100% vegan.
Men’s Fashion Award: Oliver Co. London
Working with bio-based materials such as apple leather, wood, and organic cotton as well as recycled fabrics, Oliver Co. offers a range of sustainable accessories that fit seamlessly into the everyday life of the socially conscious modern man.
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Vegan Glow-Up: adidas’ Stan Smith sneakers
This much-coveted cult design has had a vegan makeover – a whole range of the classic sneaker is now available in animal-free materials, making it the top item on any vegan fashionista’s wish list.
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Best Wool-Free Knitwear: House of Sunny
Animal-free knitwear has never looked so good. House of Sunny, the Insta-friendly brand that’s creating a buzz on social media, is a vegan label that doesn’t use a stitch of wool – no sheep had to suffer for its colourful, patterned knits.
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Special Achievement Award: Elisabetta Franchi
Elisabetta Franchi led the way in the fashion industry by going fur-free in 2012 and subsequently dropping angora and feathers. Always speaking out for animals, the Italian designer has also launched leather-free collections and runs a foundation that supports homeless animals in Italy and around the world, including by building a sanctuary for dogs rescued from China’s Yulin dog-eating festival.
Animals are not ours to wear, and when used for their skin, hair, wool, or feathers, they’re treated like nothing more than a collection of body parts instead of the sensitive, intelligent individuals they are. But thanks to brands such as our compassionate award winners, the fashion industry is changing and we’re moving towards a kinder and more sustainable future.
If you want to shop for animal-free clothing, check out some of the “PETA-Approved Vegan” fashion brands:
