Inhabitat

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Wool, whether organic or not, involves immense suffering to sheep. In Australia, the most commonly raised sheep are merinos, who are specifically bred to have wrinkled skin, which means more wool per animal. This unnatural overload of wool causes animals to die of heat exhaustion during hot months, and the wrinkles also collect urine and moisture. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive. In order to prevent this condition, called “flystrike,” Australian ranchers perform a barbaric operation—mulesing—by carving huge strips of skin and flesh off the backs of unanesthetized lambs’ legs and around their tails. This is done to cause smooth, scarred skin that won’t harbor fly eggs, yet the bloody wounds often get flystrike before they heal. One farmer—who successfully protects his sheep from flystrike by using a combination of fly traps, chemical sprays, breed selection, and grazing management—attributed the industry’s resistance to giving up mulesing to “a bit of old-boys’-club arrogance in a once-grand industry that is now struggling a bit.”

Sheep are sheared each spring, after lambing, just before some breeds would naturally shed their winter coats. Timing is considered critical: Shearing too late means wool loss. In the rush, many sheep die from exposure after premature shearing.

When sheep age and their wool production declines, they are sold for slaughter. This results in the cruel live export of millions of sheep every year to the Middle East and North Africa. In January 2006, in conjunction with Animals Australia, PETA conducted an undercover investigation to expose the handling and slaughter conditions endured by sheep who are exported to these destinations from Australia.

It may be called wool, mohair, pashmina, shahtoosh, or cashmere. But no matter what it’s called, any kind of wool means suffering for animals. http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=55

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Hi guys-

I’m a vegan myself (when it comes to food), and am totally opposed to leather, but I’m not sure everyone takes the anti-domestic animal thing quite this far. Sheep and wool farming really doesn’t seem that bad as long as the sheep are treated well and its done by small organic farmers. Caroline, I can see the point you are making above - but aren’t a lot of sheep farmers still small-scale businesses? Are you one of those people who is opposed to the concept of having cats and dogs as pets as well? I totally support animal rights but I think PETA would gain a lot more traction with mainstream people if they weren’t quite so militant in their views…

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Sometimes a sheep is just a sheep and not a wolf dressed up in sheep’s clothing. That is exactly what the statement was. The only reason I mentioned wanting the sweater in organic wool is because I love the design and I try to buy “sustainable” products. It was meant as a compliment on her design and not at all as a statement about her sustainable practices one way or another. I am not trying to “dismiss Ms. McCartney’s efforts to provide high fashion with compassion”. However, McCartney does use wool and I do feel organic wool is a more sustainable and animal friendly option. Perhaps we should have labeled the post “Animal-friendly Accessories”, since that is what we highlighted. As stated last week, we try to cover options to suit various lifestyles and let people decide what best meets their needs. I don’t feel this is being close-minded.

On this recent Thanksgiving, I think it was open-minded that my sister took the time to make a separate vegetarian dish of stuffing for me to enjoy. I think it was open-minded that I did not let the turkey on the table ruin my stuffing, cranberry sauce, or sweet potatoes. Instead, even though my vegetarian fare was not organic, I appreciated her efforts and gave thanks.

Some information about organic wool:

Organic wool production is based on positive holistic management systems, which reduce or eliminate the need for most agricultural chemicals and promote healthy soils, air, waterways and responsible animal husbandry practices. Certified organic sheep do not receive routine chemical treatments such as drenching or dipping for parasites, fly dressings, antibiotics, growth promotants, vaccines, nor do they graze on pastures that have been sprayed with herbicides. Organic sheep are bred for resistance to parasites and are fed outdoors on special herbal pastures to build healthy immune systems. Organic sheep must graze only on certified organic farms and be fed certified organic stock food. Genetically engineered or modified feed is prohibited.

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i like wool. i grew up visiting my cousins sheep farm in norway and after much time spent there i can say that i witnessed a humane process on that one farm.

i understand the non leather / vegan accessory trend, but i don’t see it as sustainable or beneficial besides the elimination of animal cruelty (don’t get me wrong… that’s great)…
These vegan products are a fantastic marketing scheme relying on petroleum products, (When was the last time you sought out a product that boasted being sythetic?)
I’d rather see reused and recycled fashion accessories gaining popularity.. I guess this is a start in getting people thinking.

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about humane treatment of sheep———-> how many farm sheep die natural deaths? like of old age? and how many die for dinners?

lets not dance around this issue: animals raised on farms are not held captive for their own benefit. the sheep are raised for profit, and all humane consideration is always secondary.

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Hello, I’m a vegan from Nigeria, and I have no problem with petrol extraction - I have a problem with the way it is extracted and that none of the cash ever arrives with the common people. As for “oil raping the lands”, that has got to be one of the most odd justification attempts for exploiting animals. Oil is a natural product, and I wonder how many people arguing against synthetics burn much more of it in their cars. But even if you don’t like synthetics, that’s not a justification for enslaving a species - in this case sheep - and willingly and knowingly participate in their exploitation, their genetic manipulation (by breeding) and murder. It’s telling when these categories are opened up of either synthetics or animal products. I’ve been vegan for almost two decades now and never relied on animal products and _very_ rarely on synthetics. Mind you I live in Germany which isn’t exactly tropical. Also, don’t forget that bio-synthetics made from plant based raw materials are just around the corner, you can already get these trash bags which may be thrown onto the compost / green recycling bin. I’m sure similar materials that are not based on fossil petrol used for shoes and clothing are being developed right now. I can understand when people say they don’t like the fume of synthetics, and sometimes vegan alternatives are still hard to find, however I find the smell of death and suffering that is inescapably connected with animal products much more disturbing. It’s not smellable with your nose, but with your conscience. Go vegan.

From what I know about industrial sheep farming, is that once a particular age is reached, sheep are killed and eaten. That’s why Australia happens to be one of the worlds largest flesh exporters, delivering sometimes barely alive animals in ships to Middle and Far East markets. So it’s not like if you consume wool you’re not connected to the flesh trade.

Now if you are speaking of sustainability, it really doesn’t make any sense to exclude a particular brand of animals from that sustainability just to basically allow yourself do with them what you want. Using and killing a life is not sustainable by its very nature. Because you’re not sustaining - but using and deleting.

Annoying in these debates are also the various senseless discrediting attempts of vegan stances. Since animal exploitation will realistically not stop tomorrow, the question of what happens with the animals that are being exploited now is moot. There will be a gradual slide in the use of animal products as more and more people go vegan - and more and more do, luckily, and eventually it will fade out completely.

Another thing irritating me in these discussions is the mentioning of PETA. PETA is one animal welfare organization (though they’re calling themselves animal rights organization) out of hundreds, and their actions or opinions have a marginal weight in the overall vegan discourse. Why people keep coming up with the idea that vegans can’t think or reason for themselves and are mind controlled by one organization is beyond me.

However one of the worst and most cynical justification attempt for animal exploitation has got to be the “well if we stop using animals, this and this species will go extinct”. So what. These species didn’t exist in the first place, they were torture bred through human manipulation to have characteristics which benefitted humans - not them. Like giant udders, absurd amount of hair, menstruating an egg per day when normally in nature they would lay only 9 in an entire year. That people argue for the continuation of animal exploitation for their sense of visual bio-aesthetics is just as absurd as arguing for the continuation of human slave trade because Africans have better singing voices. Species can’t suffer - they are not alive. A species is a biological categorization of an animal group. It’s the individual that matters. And if for ending the enslavement, torture and suffering of individuals, a species must vanish then so be it. No one here in their right mind would argue that to keep Taleban “culture” alive, we must accept that women are publically executed. But exactly that line of reasoning is applied in the animal context. And it has got to stop.

BTW, I’m very disappointed to hear that Mrs. McCartney uses wool and silk in her products. Is that true? It would make her one of the long line of celebrity pseudo-vegans who water down the meaning of vegan to suit their interests.

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I’m a knitter and a crocheter. I also live in a very cold climate. I don’t eat any animal products. I don’t wear fur. But I do knit and crochet with wool yarn. There is absolutely no fiber that has the same properties. Those hideous synthetics made of pop bottles? Hack my skin up. I work with sheep farmers who provide my yarn and the animals are loved and well treated. A good wool sweater can last a lifetime. Some petrochemical goo garment certainly won’t.

I guess I’ll never be a vegan. This is too devisive an issue for me.

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Hi Anya,

Thank you for adding your comments. It is good to realize that these may be issues that we have all thought about, but that one solution may not exist for everyone. I also am a big fan of “reusing”. Thriftshop granny cardigans peacefully coexist with vintage designer clothing in my closet. I also don’t take issue with leather, as it is currently a by-product. I don’t eat meat myself and would love to see that industry make some changes, but I don’t feel guilty investing in one or two well-made, nice pair of leather shoes per year, the rest I fill in with vintage. However, I find that when I spend more and buy what I really want, I don’t need to buy anything else. Instead, I am building a collection of clothes I intend to keep for quite some time.

I explored these issues and my relationship to my clothing in my year long fiftyRX3 project. I took a picture of what I wore everyday and categorized it by reuse-reduce-recycle. Not to mention I made a dress from salvaged umbrellas. I felt like people expected me to be in head-to-toe newly purchased eco-fashion, but blending in a lot of “second-hand” and vintage gave me many more options stylistically and financially.

If you are interested… http://fiftyrx3.com

best,

Jill Danyelle

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Stella is cool, and those bags are amazing, but this is not vegan fashion. Please get your facts straight. She still uses wool and silk. Call it “vegetarian fashion” if you have to call it something. Vegans dont wear wool or silk.

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[…] or byproducts of our furry friends are used in the production of her product lines. According to Inhabitat, Stella actually has this written in all her contracts. We love that! She supports fusing man made […]