PETA Menswear Awards 2018
The fashion industry is known for making statements – and in 2018, luxury labels, young designers, and independent brands made some big ones for animals.
Two recent, major reports reveal that a staggering three out of the four materials that have the worst environmental impact are animal-derived, leather being the most devastating. And as consumers continue to demand ethical clothing for which no animals were beaten, slaughtered, or skinned, designers have taken note. The PETA Menswear Fashion Awards celebrate the biggest moments, greatest innovations, and standout brands that made 2018 a kinder year for animals and the environment.
Best Style With a Message
This non-profit fashion brand was created to raise funds for an animal sanctuary – but has grown into a mission-driven label whose strong statements, such as “Stand for Something” and “Vegan for Life”, have earned it a dedicated following. It also has a programme to reuse and recycle old clothing.
Best Vegan Suits
Crafting its elegant suits from velvet, linen, cotton, and bamboo, King & Allen offers bespoke, high-end formalwear options that are free from the cruelty and environmental impact of wool and silk. Its tailor-made designs are available in a variety of colours and patterns for the man who wants to dress with sophistication and conscience.
Best Accessories
Once a footwear-only label, Will’s Vegan Shoes now offers a range of bags, belts, wallets, and shoes for men, women, and children – all made without a scrap of animal skin. The brand is also certified as carbon-neutral, making it an eco-friendly choice as well as a compassionate one.
Most Progressive
RetailerThis year, global online fashion retailer ASOS announced groundbreaking updates to its animal-welfare policy: starting from 2019, it will ban the sale of all items containing mohair, cashmere, feathers, or silk across its entire platform – including the 850-plus brands that sell via its websites. This compassionate move by such a high-profile name sets a new standard for animal-friendly retailers everywhere.
Best Luxury Fashion Moment
In a monumental victory for vegan fashion, this year, Burberry announced that it would no longer use real fur or angora in its collections – following investigations showing neglected animals in small, filthy cages in the fur industry and rabbits whose hair was ripped out for angora.
Best Down-Free
BrandThe Italian outerwear brand recently stopped using cruelly obtained down and feathers in its high-tech jackets, opting instead for Thermo-Fibre insulating padding, which is made from air-trapping microspheres that create a quilted texture for a lightweight, durable garment.
Collaboration
AwardBrave GentleMan and Alan Cumming for Vogue
Innovative vegan menswear label Brave GentleMan partnered with actor and animal advocate Alan Cumming for an exclusive lookbook featured in Vogue showcasing the entirely vegan designs that the brand offers the conscious and contemporary man.
Best Vegan Footwear Collection
© Hugo BossHugo Boss, which recently committed to banning fur from all future collections, has also launched a line of shoes in Piñatex, the pineapple-leaf fibre that is revolutionising the footwear and accessories industry. The eco-friendly plant leather is biodegradable and entirely animal-free, making this limited-edition range a truly ethical choice.
Best Vegan
WatchesThis “PETA-Approved Vegan” brand offers vegan leather straps for its high-quality Swiss-made watches. In line with its compassionate values, the company also donates 5 per cent of its turnover to the Wildlife Rescue Centre in Belgium.
Innovation Award
In response to the fur industry’s absurd claims that the chemical-laden pelts of intensively farmed animals are “green” and “eco-friendly”, leading faux-fur manufacturer Ecopel has created a system at its mills in Asia to collect used plastic bottles and give them new life in the form of a truly eco-friendly fur.
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:
