Velvet is soft, moves wonderfully and has been a staple in my wardrobe for many many years. Soft and silky, yes. Now, is it vegan? To answer the question, I must tell you the answer is not an easy yes or no. Keep on reading if you want to find out why!
1. What Is Velvet?
Let’s start by putting it this way: you have velvet for fashion and velvet for home. Velvet for fashion is not historically vegan! Velvet is actually the combination of silk fibres woven into two layers. The cut threads are evenly distributed and this technique goes back to the 1.000 AC, in Northern Africa. That’s what makes it expensive and dense. This is the real velvet, folks! Not what you find in the high street, which is usually made from cotton or synthetic materials. So if you find a piece of fashion that contains velvet, priced above £100, chances are that it contains silk!
2. How to identify vegan velvet?
Thankfully, we nowadays can find synthetic and natural fabrics that can replace the need for silk. This makes velvet much more affordable and you only need to red the manufacturer’s label to understand where your textile is from. Cotton-blended skirts and dresses are easy to find, but you’ll often find velvety materials made from lyocell, raffia, polyester, or nylon, without any of the cruelty.
Velvet for the home tends to be always vegan. Silk, although it decomposes organically, is not a very durable material per se. So most of the velvet sofas you have sat on an you’ll keep sitting on will probably be vegan. Synthetic materials are just more durable in terms of cleanliness, tearing and ripping apart, and colour fades quicker too.
3. Vegan Velvet Shoes: Da Quy
Vegan-friendly velvet alternatives? YES! I want to talk about an Italian vegan shoe company called Da Quy, who kindly sent me this pair of shoes to show you that anything is possible in becoming more animal and eco-friendly.
Da Quy is a vegan shoe company based in Italy. They have been approved by the Vegan Society and none of the shoes use animal components, including the glue.
Founder Erica Ramilli created the brand with the intention to make vegan shoes fashionable. The shoes are designed and crafted in Italy. ‘Da Quy’ means ‘precious stones’ in Vietnamese, thus referring to simple but precious vegan shoes. Their shoes are made for conscious consumers who do not want to compromise on aesthetics, offering original shoes for the compassionate fashionista!
Today I am wearing the Angelite Moccasins in Blue Velvet.
This model is probably the most comfortable pair of shoes I own. Soft and delicate, these vegan moccassins are perfect for those who live in flats but refuse not to be stylish! I picked mine in dark blue, as I thought it would match most of the colours of my closet.
Did you actually know that velvet wasn’t vegan? I only found out recently and was pretty shocked! I’m glad that there are vegan brands out there who actually make gorgeous, comfortable shoes out of synthetic materials. Do you know any other brands that do vegan velvet? If so, let me know!
I AM WEARING:
ZARA BLAZER (old)
ZARA DRESS (old)
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With love,
Photography by Alexa Mitiner
