Style With Substance

Gone are the days when caring about animals meant you had to wear hemp sandals and dreadlock your hair – not a good look. With thousands of shops to choose from and progressive clothing stores sprouting up like tulips in the springtime, you don't have to hurt animals to look great these days! To make things easier for you – since that is our specialty – here's the inside scoop on what's hot and what's not ….

Where to Shop: Stores peta2 Loves

• Topshop: anti-fur and anti-leather! They even have a vegan bag section on their website.
• April 77: our absolute best buds – we love them like we love soya lattes
• Beyond Skin: shoes! Glorious shoes!
• New Look: great selection of vegan shoes
• H&M: no-fur policy! They also banned merino wool.
• Dorothy Perkins: a must for a compassionate shoe lover
• Asos.com: faux-leather boots, shoes, belts and bags galore

"It's disgusting to wear fur and shouldn't be allowed to be sold in stores."
– Sarah Harding (Girls Aloud)

Now, check out the DL on animals used for clothing …

Fur

OK, so fur is a no-brainer. If you don't want to look like a prostitute, then don't wear the decaying corpse of another creature on your back – it's as simple as that! Fur farmers use the cheapest and cruellest killing methods available, including suffocation, anal electrocution, gassing and drowning. China is the world's leading fur exporter, where millions of dogs and cats are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death and sometimes even skinned alive for their fur.

If you think it's OK to wear vintage fur, then think again. Wearing any fur creates an environment where fur is acceptable, which means more animals will be killed in the most gruesome ways. Designers Vivienne Westwood, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Betsey Johnson and Comme des Garçons are all fur-free.

"I hate the thought of animals' being killed just for our pleasure, so I won't wear leather."
– Leona Lewis

Leather

Most leather comes from developing countries like India and China, where animals routinely have their throats slit and their skin ripped off while they are still conscious. In India, a PETA investigation found that cows have their tails broken and chilli peppers and tobacco rubbed into their eyes in order to force them to walk after they collapse while travelling long distances to slaughter.

Wool

Most of the world's wool comes from Australia, where sheep undergo "mulesing", a gruesome mutilation in which large chunks of skin and flesh are cut from lambs' backsides without any painkillers. Each year, millions of sheep discarded by the Australian wool industry are crammed onto export ships to be sent to the Middle East. Sheep who survive the terrifying voyage are often dragged off trucks by their ears and legs, tied up and beaten and have their throats slit while they are still conscious.

Here are some tricky little things to look out for …

• Angora: Angora rabbits are repeatedly shorn for their soft wool. They're strapped to a board for shearing, where the clippers bite into their flesh – with bloody results. Angora rabbits have very delicate foot pads, making life on a wire-cage floor excruciating and ulcerated feet a common condition. Because male angora rabbits have only 80 per cent of the wool yield of females, they are routinely killed at birth.
• Mohair, Pashmina and Cashmere: These are just other types of wool. Any kind of wool means suffering for animals.
• Down and Feathers: While most down and feathers are removed from birds at slaughter, geese from breeding flocks and those raised for meat and foie gras may be live-plucked, causing them much pain and suffering.

And finally …

• Do your homework! Ask sales assistants if they sell fur, and e-mail the companies.
• Always check the symbols on labels when you're buying shoes. Faux leather is SO good that you often can't tell it apart from animal skin.
• Have fun! Fashion is supposed to be fun, not grizzly.

Now you can get dressed with a clean conscience and look even better!