Spending time in nature, and bringing the outdoors into your everyday routine can have a positive impact on your mental and physical health and with World Mental Health Day taking place on October 10th, we thought we would provide you with insight, into how you can bring the outdoors into your daily life to help benefit your mental health and wellbeing.

Let’s firstly kick off with the wider impacts and benefits nature can bring to your mental health, it can:

• Improve your mood
• Reduce feelings of stress or anger
• Help you take time out and feel more relaxed 
• Improve your sleep
• Improve your confidence and self-esteem

However, what can you do in nature to achieve these benefits?

Go for a walk

While this may feel like an obvious way to get out into nature, it’s the perfect place to start. Even those of you with a busy schedule, consider how you can make small life changes, such as walking as part of your daily commute, to get your daily nature fix. Walking as an activity alone helps reduce stress, so anything little or large will have a great impact.

Start growing

If going for a daily stroll isn’t your thing, you can still get into nature, by the act of gardening. There’s growing evidence that gardening can be of massive benefit to our mental health. The act of nurturing something, allows you to set aside your daily life and focus on another, providing you with some time to relax and destress from the day.

Go on a bike ride

While usually seen as a means of transport, going for a bike ride can help you unwind as you focus on the open roads. It helps promote means of calm and wellbeing, and with rhythmic breathing and leg movements, it has been said to provide meditative purposes.

Hiking with friends

If you are looking for more of a physical challenge from walking, hiking is your next best thing. While it may need a little more planning, the impact on your health it has is amazing. Not only helping your physical strength but allowing you to unwind in nature for a longer period of time. 

Go camping

For those of you who want to dig deep into nature, camping is a great activity to help you connect with the outdoors. It helps you disconnect from your life, as you usually have to compromise on your tech advances as many places have little to no service, making you switch off and appreciate what is around you. 

 

Everyone deals with things differently, and if you want further help and support surrounding mental health, there are some amazing charities out there to help you. We have listed some below:

Mind UK 
Nami 
Mental Health Europe

Since the beginning of the human race, trees and other forestation have been our essential life partners, providing us with oxygen and food. And as life evolved, we started to find new ways to use trees in our daily lives as tools, medicines, and shelter.

And as we enter a new age of the Anthropocene today, their importance continues to increase.

Forests try valiantly to keep our heavily polluted air clean, regulate our increasingly disrupted weather cycles, absorb greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, and keep our climate intact as a result.

It has been estimated that trees provide livelihood opportunities for 1.7 billion people, which counts for almost 20 per cent of the world's population. In addition, they house over 80 per cent of the world's flora and fauna, making them the most biodiverse ecosystem known.

 

Social And Communal Value:

Every community or society tries to grow trees outside their homes, parks, and playgrounds to create a peaceful, healthy, and aesthetic environment. It cannot be denied that trees improve our lifestyles by bringing in the element of wildlife into our homely, urban settings.

We find joy sitting in their cool shade as a breeze blows through our hair or as birds sing overhead. A lot of family and friends gather underneath to organize fun outdoor activities.

There are also numerous neighbourhoods that harbour trees that are hundreds of years old. These are often regarded as a source of pride and a historical landmark for that neighbourhood's residents.

Apart from this, planting trees over walkways, bridges, and roadsides helps reduce the amount of direct heat falling over them and creates an environment where people can sit or stand while also collectively lowering the area's temperature.

Environmental And Ecological Value:

Trees give back to their environment by providing the element most important for human existence: oxygen. They undergo the process of photosynthesis, taking carbon dioxide and turning it into oxygen. The US Department of Agriculture says, "One acre of forest absorbs six tons of carbon dioxide and puts out four tons of oxygen. This is enough to meet the annual needs of 18 people." Additionally, trees and other shrubs act as a filter for air by getting rid of dust and other pollutant particles, making it easier for our lungs to process the air.

Trees also help by moderating the climate. They help modify the sun's harmful effects, blocking out harmful UV light by making sure that the ozone layer is functioning properly. Leaves filter and absorb extra heat, providing that extra bit of coolness.

Trees are also extremely helpful in the winters. They help keep the environment warm by providing a shield from the strong gusts of wind coming from above. When it rains or hails, trees provide shelter that slows down the heavy pelting and curtails major damage.

We are all familiar with the greenhouse effect, which is carbon dioxide regulation, to provide a nurturing environment. Trees are the primary cause of this and reduce air temperature as a result of the process.

Trees are equally important for ecosystems that thrive below the ground. Their roots keep the soil intact, keeping erosion at bay. Moreover, they absorb rainwater that seeps into the ground, reducing sedimentary deposits and runoffs that are harmful to agricultural crops.

Flooding is also prevented by streamlining the flow of groundwater so it doesn't flush towards the surface. Fallen autumn leaves help in providing natural organic fertilizer.

When it comes to animals, trees are their habitat, their food, and their place for nourishment. Giraffes, elephants, and koalas are among the many ones that feed on tree leaves. Flowers are the food for monkeys, bees, and birds. It is needless to say that all the food that we so thoroughly enjoy comes from these trees.

Trees also help provide many animals with camouflage from other predators. Insects, birds, squirrels, and deer all lie low in trees to stay away from lions or hawks.

 

Spiritual And Personal Value:

Trees seem majestic and beautiful beings to us, displayed in their enormous variety of forms, shapes, colours, and textures. Their incredible strength and arduously long lifespan and stature present them with a monument like quality, which we look at with awe and wonderment.

Many of us find trees as signs of relaxed, pleasant, and comfortable feelings, a place where we can reconnect with nature. In fact, many people use their loved ones’ remnants to plant trees so they can return back to the earth where they came from.

A lot of religions hold trees in a highly sacred light. Some worship them; others see them as their reincarnated form. But everyone agrees that they are integral to humans existing and thriving on this planet.

Trees are also used as records for family history. They are a common element that grows with your ancestors and stays till many generations of your descendants. Many people like to visit old trees and think about how their grandparents spent time in these same trees, forming special bonds with them.

 

Commercial And Practical Value:

Trees enable a large variety of economic and practical uses. Their wood is used as fuel for homes, vehicles, power plants, and so forth. It is still used by over half of the world's population for heating and cooking purposes.

The most beneficial aspect of trees is their timber. It is used for constructing buildings and furniture, tools, equipment for sports, and numerous other household appliances.

Pulp from wood is then processed into paper, papyrus, clothes, and resin. Fruits from trees are part of a huge industry, and several countries' economy is largely dependent on it.

 

Economic And Practical Value:

Landscapes that incorporate trees are known to significantly increase property value. Direct economic benefits are obtained through energy conservation from using less cooling appliances like air conditioners.

Similarly, fewer heaters need to be employed when a house is shielded from high-end winds. The USDA forest service states, "Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30% and save 20-50 per cent in energy used for heating."

Let us look at some important facts that are made possible because of the effect of healthy shrubs and trees:

 

• Homes with “excellent” landscaping can expect a sale price 6-7% higher than equivalent houses with “good” landscaping. Improving “average” to “good” landscaping can result in a 4-5% increase.– Clemson University
• Landscaping can bring a recovery value of 100-200% at selling time. (Kitchen remodelling brings 75-125%, bathroom remodelling 20-120%)– Money Magazine
• A mature tree can have an appraised value between 1000 and 10,000 pounds.– Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers
• 99% of real estate appraisers concurred that landscaping enhances the sales appeal of real estate.– Trendnomics, National Gardening Association
• 98% of realtors believe that mature trees have a “strong or moderate impact” on the salability of homes listed for over 250,000 pounds (83% believe the same for homes listed under 150,000 pounds).– American Forests, Arbor National Mortgage

Vanishing Trees And How To Stop It

When it comes to counting the benefits of trees, they are endless. But we try to list some to remind people how important trees are to the existence of almost every living thing on planet earth. It is extremely sad to see then their demise.

Trees are being cut down left, right, and centre. Deforestation is quickly emerging as the second-largest contributor to climate change. Twenty per cent of all carbon emissions are a direct result of the absence of enough trees.

It lies on us, as individuals, as organizations, and as social communities, to do whatever we can to preserve, protect, and increase the population of quickly diminishing trees. If we fail to do so, our planet and all its inhabitants could very well be in grave danger.

One way to look at this prospect is through the process of sustainable clothing/sustainable fashion, which is made possible when clothes are made from fabrics that are eco friendly and not adversely affect the environment, like organic cotton.

Organic cotton is an equally effective alternative to regular cotton, its unsustainable counterpart. It is grown in a manner that does not use toxic chemicals, artificial fertilizer, and pesticides that could harm the environment, the soil, the water, among other things. Organic cotton farming is done through cultivating cover crops, using natural compost, and human labour.

All of these factors have proved to not only stop harming the ecosystem but also benefit it. For example, when inorganic pesticides are not used, the soil is enriched, stays healthy, and allows for multitudes of organisms to breed.

The harvested product also ends up using 88 per cent less water and a collective 62 per cent fewer energy resources. In contrast, regular cotton uses almost a quarter of the world's pesticides and insecticides.

Farmers are the primary caretakers of these crops, and therefore their well-being is essential. With organic cotton, farmers and their families are protected from toxic chemicals that would otherwise be mixed in their food and water supply. It also enables them to grow multiple crops, strengthening their source of income.

Scientists predict that in approximately 4 years, 66 per cent of the world would be short on water. Organic cotton, which is mostly nourished by rainwater, decreases pressure on existing water resources and conserve them. Additionally, when the water is clean and chemical free, it promotes a safe environment for both plants and humans. Regular cotton consumes about 2500 litres of water just to make a t-shirt. Organic cotton t-shirts would help reduce this immense water quantity.

Organic cotton can also benefit the food system. Its oil can be used in many foods, including chips and cookies, grown from organic cotton seeds. Vegetable oil obtained from this can be used to feed livestock, whose meat we so eagerly consume.

 

Fair Price For A Sustainable Future

When we invest in ethical clothing, we are playing our part in conserving water, trees, forests, and their surrounding ecosystem. Sometimes the price of organic clothing might be higher, but with more organizations looking to save the world, it is bound to come lower as more choices are made available.

 

We Can Make A Difference

Caring for the world that provides us with so much is a lifestyle choice. We need to adopt this into more facets of our life, so we can leave this planet a better, more liveable place for our generations to come.

One way we could do this is by planting more trees. Here at one choice apparel, we take the same step because of our conscious consumer customers. For every item that is sold off of our website, we plant 1 tree. And if we keep doing it, if we all keep doing it, pretty soon we will be able to reach a point where we will be planting more trees than we cut, creating a surplus mechanism that will make our cities green, our countryside clean, our water pure, and our family healthy.

We need to know that even doing a very small part, like planning a single tree, is of help. A single tree will bloom into a thriving organism, whose seeds will give life to seeds around them, pollinating plants and breeding animals, and a single tree would have been responsible for the protection of your local ecosystem.

We would be able to live in lower temperatures, not be afraid of terrible storms, grow our own fruit, and have tons of birds and animals to admire nature through. But we all must come together to play our role and save our planet before it is too late.

 

Clothing is one of the highest consumed goods in the world. Whether it's everyday wear or even a designer, we all need them.

People end up getting more and more clothing as they go through life. As styles change and trends come and go, you only see increasing demand.

However, a shirt that might be an ordinary shirt to you harms many stakeholders, including the environment around you.

What if we told you there is a way to reduce your carbon footprint by switching to organic cotton clothing? However, you may ask yourself, 'why is organic cotton better?'

Here are some reasons you should choose organic cotton clothing when you make your next clothing purchase!

 

What Is The Difference Between Organic And Inorganic Cotton?

Before we dive into the benefits of organic cotton clothing, let's first discuss what the product is! Organic cotton is usually made from natural seeds. It can be defined in many ways, but the main definition is that it is cotton grown without using synthetic and harmful chemicals.

There is also no use of pesticides or growth promoters, and the process is kept as natural as possible. The farming practice is catered to with biodiversity and biological cycles. Insects are used to keep away problems of pests, and the crops produce safe products.

However, regular cotton growth does not make use of these practices. It usually has degrading soil quality, removes natural nutrients, and the crops are not as healthy. They also use chemicals, pesticides, and insecticides.

 

The 13 Benefits Of Purchasing Organic Cotton Clothing

There are many personal, environmental, and socio-economic benefits of sustainable fashion. The best choice you can make is to switch to organic cotton clothing.

Here are some reasons you might want to consider the switch

 

1.  Breathable and Light Weight

The thing with organic fabric clothing is that it offers natural fibres. Those help to make the cloth a lot more breathable.  This makes it a great option for warmer climates.

All countries, along with the equator, struggle with humid and hot weather. Most clothing, especially synthetic ones, is not suitable for this climate.

They can irritate your skin, make your feel hotter, and may additionally trap heat that can make you feel suffocated.

Organic cotton fibres allow moisture to evaporate, making you feel cooler. It is much more lightweight, soft and does not retain odour.

You will find yourself washing an organic cotton t-shirt less often than synthetic ones. They do not hoard bad odours and are much more maintainable. This inevitably saves you a lot more water, resources, energy, and does not put the clothing through wear and tear.

 

2.  Durability

One of the key features of organic cotton clothing is that it will last you a lifetime! It is lightweight, soft, and breathable, but at the same time, the cloth is a lot more durable than its counterparts.

You can wash it easily and still not see it look old, jagged, or faded.

Fun fact: Cotton is made with one of the strongest natural fibres. Denim, Gingham, Terry, Velour, Velvet, and Poplin are all made from the same plant species.

 

3.  Better for Children

Organic cotton clothing is recommended for children. There are a lot of features that make mothers pick organic cotton over synthetic clothing.

To start, non-organic cotton is treated with flame retardants that contain chlorine and bromine. These can easily contaminate the human body as well as the environment.

These retardants are also linked to damaging the nervous and reproductive systems of humans and can impact thyroid function.

Organic cotton, however, is the exact opposite! Your child can wear different clothing and not have to worry about chemicals, synthetics, and toxins.

 

4.  No Use of Synthetics

A lot of our cheaper clothing is made of synthetic materials. This includes polyester, nylon, or microfleece.

These materials are not just synthetics themselves but are also made with petrochemicals. They tend to irritate the skin and can be bad for children too.

Synthetic clothing also sheds plastic fragments that are more popularly known as microfibers. These fibres are now everywhere in our eco-system because of the clothing we wear.

It can impact not just us but the water quality and the aquatic life around us. You might find these microfibers in the next crab or lobster you enjoy.

 

5.  No Use Of Chemicals

Nobody is a fan of chemicals in the world where sustainable fashion is making movements. Most clothing that ends up in your wardrobe has perhaps gone through chemical treatments, synthetic materials, and toxic dyes.

A pesticide in the plant can end up as a pesticide in the food you eat. The case is the same with the clothing you wear.

A toxic dye can enter the supply chain when you wear the product or use it. It can end up in your system through your nose, eyes, and mouth. Additionally, it can ever prove to e hazardous for your pets or children.

All agricultural pesticides have a tri-fold effect on your body. It has links with many food allergies, obesity, and Alzheimer's.

 

6.  Getting More Quality

Organic certified organizations always priorities quality over quantity. They don't want to mass-produce textile and feed the demand.

They focus on making materials that fulfil organic criteria and are safe for consumers. In addition, to his, the workers are much more fairly treated than other textile productions. They are paid well and not overworked.

This is why they give more quality output than those working in sweatshops and garment factories in the line of production.

All stages of production are audited to make sure everything is in place, in addition to process, manufacturing, and trading stages that are all monitored.

 

7.  Making Your Contribution To Saving water

Yes, making active sustainable fashion choices severely. It Impacts water conservation, as well. Organic practices of growing plants are much more sustainable and resource-friendly.

Many farmers opt for crop rotation that reduced both water usage and the rate of pollution. Cotton on its own is known as a thirsty crop.

It takes up more than 2 per cent of the global water footprint. However, organic practices tackle exactly that issue. They make farming practices much more sustainable.

For example, the better cotton fast track program shows how cotton can be grown with 20% less water. In addition, it also reduces dyes, treatments, and chemical baths for clothing.

If textile standards comply with GOTS, it helps produce a new line of organic textile clothing!

 

8.  Creating Future Models

By choosing sustainable fashion, we are not just impacting ourselves but the greater good. Organic cotton provides a model for sustainability like no other.

A model we can use for the future and reduce our waster. Most farmers grow organic cotton through rainfed channels.

This also means that local water sources are not burdened with growing the crop. Moreover, it does not use the regular chemicals that are used otherwise, which makes it safer for people to use.

Many water-scarce countries are still growing cotton despite the crop being water thirsty. Around 2700 litres go into making a t-shirt that we wear.

These figures can change if there a small switch to organic cotton instead of non-organic textiles.

 

9.  Making Our Food System Better

Did you know that organic cotton can also contribute towards making our food system better? That is precisely the case.

Organic cotton is made and grown from organic cotton seeds. These seeds can be used in many other food products as well.

There is cottonseed oil that can be used industrially to make cookies, chips, vegetable oil, and the greatest benefit: Feeding livestock.

While we don't eat cotton fibre, its seeds are definitely a product that makes way to our diet and then to our systems.

This is considered a healthy alternative to many other saturated fats and is not dangerous.

 

10. Better Lives For Cotton Farmers

The most affected in the trade of cotton are cotton farmers. This is why switching to an organic source impacts them the most.

When farmers don’t have to use a range of pesticides, insecticides, and chemical toxins to grow their crops, they enjoy larger profits for their annual harvest.

Another factor that helps them is crop diversity, which is a common feature of organic farming methods. They can use their land to grow other types of crops and benefit from those too.

You help by creating a demand for a product, and it can impact the lives of many farmers who have to use non-organic farming methods to keep up with the increasing demand from the textile industry.

In addition to that, whenever farmers buy seeds, it is considered an initial investment, but when those seeds are modified, they have to go back to larger corporations whenever a new harvest is sown.

Agro corps use this dynamic and try to control more and more farmers while enjoying the maximum profits for themselves. Dropping the demand for such cotton can really help farmers who are bound by these practices.

 

11. Fairer Treatment Of Workers

Your small choice of clothing can have a huge impact on the fair treatment of workers. Most workplaces have GOT certification to respect their workers and abides by human rights.

They get paid fairly, are provided with protected gear, hygienic conditions, and safety. It does not allow any room for child labour, coercion, discrimination, excessive hours, or any kind of unjust treatment of workers.

It keeps the workers happier and much more sustained than non-organic practices. There are not just physical benefits but social ones too!

 

12. Less Corporate Control Of Farms With GMOs

Cotton is grown in countries like China, India, and the US, where the climate is more suitable for crop growth. Most of these are grown with GMO seeds, which are mass-marketed by larger corporations.

The campaigns include calling these seeds pesticide and herbicide-resistant. However, many GMOs have been seen to have an active ingredient with glyphosate, which is a potential carcinogen.

Carcinogens can lead to genetic damage, birth defects, and other kinds of health effects. They are banned from edible products, but someone is still used in farming practices today.

 

13. Protecting Our Bodies

There are many ways you can go green by switching to organic cotton clothing. You do this by limiting how toxins spread from family to family.

Everyone in the supply chain is exposed to clothing chemicals all day long. This includes factory workers, farmers, and retail workers. These toxins are transferred into their kin.

One of the prevalent chemicals are existing within the textiles is poly-fluorinated chemicals. This includes PFCs like GoreTex and Teflon.

Adding these ingredients help by making the fabric a lot more water and grease resistant, and it helped in the industrial revolution by providing durable clothing.

However, as the needs change with time, these very chemicals are responsible for cancer organ damage, endocrine disruption, and reproductive damage.

Data shows how the air quality of an apparel brand storefront has 20 to 60 times higher PFCs than urban outdoor air.

 

You, too, can make a difference.

Organic cotton clothing benefits our eco-system, which includes us! Caring for the environment and making eco-conscious choices is always a progressive step towards producing minimal waste.

Every year we almost produce 26 metric tonnes of cotton, which majorly goes to the apparel industry, where only 1% of the entire cotton production is comprised of organically grown cotton.

However, people like you can change that figure! The people have in their power to influence the decision of farmers, producers, manufacturers, and retailers.

A collective effort can drive the change we want to see in the world, and it is never too late to start.

Veganism is not just about making ethical food choices. Veganism should permeate all aspect of your life - the way you eat, the way you drink, the way you live, the way you travel and also, the way you wear clothes. All the aspects of your life should be done in a manner that doesn't hurt or harm any living creature on this planet.

Going vegan is not just a diet choice. It is a lifestyle choice where you consciously choose to live with a conscience and take the moral high ground that abstains you from harming any living being. Eating vegan food is only the first step of veganism. Wearing clothes that contain animal products should be avoided as well.

What Is Vegan Clothing?

Vegan clothes are embodiment of this simple idea that no animals should be treated cruelly and made to suffer for human vanity. Vegan clothes are any clothes that are made without using any animal product.  By 'animal products', we mean any material that is obtained by keeping and breeding animals in captivity, in harsh and pathetic conditions where animals are subjected to inhumane treatment and cruelty. When going vegan, you should avoid buying or wearing anything that was made from such 'animal products'.  

Leather and fur are obvious culprits when you think of non-vegan clothing but there are other materials too that should be avoided. Here are list of clothing materials (or clothes that use these materials) to avoid when opting for vegan clothing -

• leather
• wool
• fur
• feathers
• silk
• horn
• bone
• shell
• cashmere
• angora
• shahtoosh
• snakeskin
• shearling
• suede (microsuede is animal free, though)
• pashmina
• mohair

Never use any clothing made out of materials listed above.

 

Fur, Wool & Leather - Cruelty In Animal Based Clothing

Fur is perhaps the most taboo and controversial of all animal based clothing. This is mainly because of animal rights activists and the fact that for many-many years they have been campaigning and protesting against the use of fur and therefore putting it in public eyes. In many ways, this seems to be very effective as even non-vegans now choose to not wear it. However, there is an alarming number of fur wearers. So how can industry this honorific and recognized as so cruel be so profitable and operational in these times?

Firstly we need to only consider where fur comes from. It is skin of an animal that has been ripped off his body leaving the abject remains of his organs, bones and muscles left out on display. If we need to question the horror of fur industry then we only need to imagine the brutality of having our own skin pulled off our bones.

I just want to highlight a level of cognitive dissonance that we have in society. A coyote is one of the animals that is most commonly used for fur. It so happens that it is also a species of the dog family. This means that we frequently see people walking their dog in public while also wearing a dead dog around their neck. Now it is one thing to claim to be an animal lover while also eating animal; but this is whole new level of ignorance when you claim to be a dog lover and are wearing a dead dog around your body.

Fur is taken from many different animals in many different situations but in no situation is acquiring fur necessary. In Canada and Greenland, thousands of seals are clubbed and bludgeoned or shot to death before being skinned, often while still conscious.  Many of the seals are babies who are murdered for fur, even before they had the opportunity to learn to swim. The true horror of fur farms can never truly be imagined and no level of empathy can even come close to help us realize the hell and suffering these poor animals go through.

85% fur comes from fur factories. In these factories, profits are always put before animal welfare.  Dogs, cats, foxes, minks, chinchillas, rabbits and even hamster are most commonly used for fur farming. The animals are packed into tiny cages with little to no room to breathe. Inevitably the animals become insane, biting each other and exhibiting cannibal behavior. They often hurt themselves, self-mutilating in unimaginably horrible ways.

Incredibly there are no humane slaughter laws in place protecting animals in these fur farms. This means they are butchered in gruesome ways since the solitary objective of the farmers is to protect the fur. Animals are killed without any regard for pain and suffering. Common form of death involves using the poisonous fumes from engine exhaust to render the animal unconscious. In view of the temperamental ineffectiveness of this method, the animals often remain conscious or become conscious while they are being skinned alive.

Fur is also incredibly damaging to the environment. It requires 20 times more energy to produce a real fur coat than it does to produce a fake fur coat. Furthermore, due to the chemicals used on the fur to stop them from rotting, the items are not biodegradable and in fact these chemicals lead to a very dangerous water contamination.

The dead skin of animals is called leather. It usually comes from cows, goats, kangaroos, pigs, cats and dogs. Leather items are often not labelled so it makes it extremely difficult to identify where the leather came from.  There are also several skins that are considered exotic and are high in demand.  Leather made of crocodiles, alligators and snakes are considered high-fashion and exotic. It is a shame really that these beautiful creatures are murdered and their skins are made into shoes, belts and handbags; all in the name of fashion.

Using leather is wrong on so many levels. Not only are animals murdered to satisfy the demand for leather products but leather is also the worst material when it comes to environment.  Peta.org did a full cover on how the meat industry affects Earth's environment negatively where they explain how the toxins used in the leather tanning process pollute Earth and its environment on a large scale.

Winter clothing is almost synonymous with wool, cashmere, angora and shearling nowadays.  What are these? Wool is the hair of a lamb or sheep. Angora is wool of a rabbit. Cashmere is the hair of Cashmere goat. Shearling is the skin of a lamb with the fleece still attached to it.

A general perception regarding wool is that sheep grow enough wool and they don't get hurt when humans shear them. This is far from truth. Wool industry is full of cases of animal abuse. Males of the species are castrated without any pain relief. Sheep's ears are hole-punched and their tails are chopped off without giving them any kind of pain relief.

Let's Put An End To This Cruelty

We idolize people like Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna who unashamedly wear fur coats and leather items. They wear them as a sign of privilege and wealth and they wear them as if they demand respect from us. But we have to show them that we can't respect their fashion choices and we certainly shouldn't respect their choice to fund and promote such a barbaric industry. If we ever want to end this cruel industry, not only do we have to stop wearing fur, wool and leather ourselves; but we have to send a clear message to the celebrities that wear them  that their choices are immoral and unethical.

Do you own fur or leather? There are charities and sanctuaries that take it as donation and use it as bedding for animals they have. Use this as an opportunity to get rid of yourself of the guilt and bloodshed that goes into your fashion and make a positive change to an animal's life that desperately needs it. Animal-based clothing industry is shameful and disgusting and it is up to us make sure the industry ends now.

You Advertise What You Wear. Choose Wisely!

If you are wearing Nike t-shirt then you are advertising Nike and if you are wearing animal fur, you are advertising that fur is okay to wear. Your fashion reflects who you are what you stand for. It is thus important that you just don't stop wearing fur, wool and leather but wear clothes that represent your views.

We are One Choice Apparel, a clothing company that caters to the individuals who strive to make conscious and informed decisions for a sustainable future and a better now.  We use organic and sustainable materials to create stylish clothes (t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, etc.) that you can be proud to wear. All our clothes are vegan and no animals are harmed for producing our clothing.  Browse our collection of vegan tees, hoodies and sweaters and pick a design that reflects the inner you.

Why Not Vegan?

All through this post we have talked about why we should opt for vegan clothing and contribute to prevention of animal cruelty. However, I think the more pertinent question to ask yourself is  -  'Why Not Vegan Clothing'?

Think of it this way - when vegan clothes can offer you function as well as style, while reducing animal cruelty, is there really any good reason to continue mistreating and murdering animals in the name of fashion? Think! Act!