Ethical Fashion on a Budget

By Ruby Sturm, VRG Intern

I’ve been trying to learn how to buy cheap clothes as a vegan. Overall, clearance racks, thrift stores, and yard sales are probably the way to go.

Although I haven’t run across many specifically vegan clothing brands, in the better stores the clothing and shoes are labeled with what’s in them. So you’ll at least have an inkling if a piece is free from animal products. A detailed label is really helpful because animal products can sometimes be hidden in plain sight. I once bought a pair of fuzzy knitted winter gloves. It turned out that the fluffy material hidden inside of the gloves was rabbit fur. Another time my mom bought me a pair of canvas shoes online. The product description read “cotton.” What it didn’t say was that the inserts inside the shoes were 100% genuine leather! There will always be some mistakes, but the more I learn about different brands, the better I get at making sure that what I’m wearing is good for the earth!

If the label doesn’t list what a product is made of, the best thing you can do is Google it. When shopping online, you might notice that product descriptions aren’t great. But you can go to the brand’s website for a more detailed description. Looking up the brand only takes a minute. Of course it’s also important to think about the different labels products can have—cruelty-free, sustainable, and vegan. Cruelty-free means that a product isn’t tested on animals. Sustainable means that the product has a better environmental impact. And vegan means that it contains no materials derived from animals. When buying clothing, it’s best to consider all of these labels. A vegan faux leather coat could still be made entirely from plastic, cruelty-free soap could contain honey and goat’s milk, and a pair of sustainable shoes could still be made from leather.

How could a faux-leather coat be made from plastic well… Faux leather is a trendy vegan product that no one can seem to make up their mind about. Is it good, is it bad, is it cheap?

Vegan leather companies have different processes for developing this leather-free leather. There are two main types. The first is made of polyurethane, or PU, a plastic-based leather that is cheap and easy to mass produce. My family has a PU faux leather couch that started peeling a year after we bought it. The second type of vegan leather is plant-based. Plant-based leather is usually made from smooth leathery plants such as cactus, banana leaves, or even fruit skins. One sad thing is that I’ve found few plant-based leathers are fully “plant-based.”

Overall, how people shop ethically really depends on their budget, the time they’re willing to invest, and their style. It’s not just about your taste in clothes, but also whether you prefer the ‘thrill of the hunt’ at yard sales and thrift stores, or a more organized approach to shopping, like searching through the catalog of an online store.

For new clothes, one way to save money is at the clearance rack. Avoid stores that have clothing made from cheap synthetic materials that will fall apart fairly quickly but won’t biodegrade. Instead, go to the clearance rack at stores that carry some ethical brands. When I started researching, I thought I’d find some budget vegan brands if I looked hard enough. After all, I really can’t afford to pay $45 for a t-shirt or $300 for a backpack. I know that fast fashion is bad, but cost is a factor for most of us.

If you love some of the expensive vegan clothing brands but don’t have the money, you can also buy them used. Time can be a good substitute for money—sure, they’ve been worn before, but that just doubles your positive impact on the environment! You may prefer hitting the bins at a chaotic Goodwill, a more organized thrift store like Savers, or asking for your grandma’s cool hand-me-downs. Sometimes it’s hard to find things you like that are your size. But you can buy used clothing online, too, at websites like Mercari, Ebay, Thredup, Poshmark, and TheRealReal. (TheRealReal is pretty expensive but hey they have a clearance section!)

Another reason to buy second hand is … just look at all the cool stuff you can get! Thanks to thrift stores and yard sales I have button ups from now ‘till 60 years ago. Some of the neatest clothing pieces I’ve gotten don’t even have tags and I’m pretty sure they were handmade.

This was a cool dress I got from a thrift store that I’m pretty sure was hand-sewn.

And if you accidentally purchase something second-hand that contains animal products, at least you bought it used so the manufacturer didn’t profit from the sale. When people become vegan, many cycle leather and fur clothing out of their wardrobes.

I remember when I would tell people I bought my clothes at a thrift store and they would look at me weird, but now everyone seems to like them… perhaps since clothing has gone up in price. They say time is money. And if you don’t want to break your wallet you still have to invest something. So maybe just invest your time instead!

The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.