Wireless Wednesday Exclusive: Laura Shields, Ph. D: Manager of Corporate Responsibility, PETA

A recorded segment with Laura Shields of PETA.

Fashion and vegan materials.

Have a listen:

With NYC Fashion Week coming up the week of February 11th, vegan materials take the stage as consumers increasingly prioritize concern for cruelty to animals and environmental sustainability when choosing what brands to buy. In 2022, more people are now aware that animals are abused and/or killed for their skins, wool, and feathers, and choosing clothing and accessories that are ethically produced—as well as functional, stylish, and better for the environment.

Designers and brands are now all ears when it comes to animal-free fabrics because their customers, especially the younger ones, are aware that buying clothing made from animals' body parts means supporting an industry that torments and kills them, and that wool, leather, down and other animal-derived materials fuel the climate catastrophe—and they want to be a part of the solution. For example, global retail giant H&M recently created a 100% vegan collection in collaboration with PETA. Each on-trend item in the collection is made with groundbreaking animal-free materials, such as wildflowers, grape skins, and salvaged trash like old fishing nets!

Compassionate shoppers don't need to wait for retailers to do the right thing. They can start saving animals’ lives and protecting the environment today by leaving wool, leather, and down out of their wardrobes and instead, choose from the dozens of warm, stylish, animal-free materials available everywhere. On January 25, Laura Shields, Manager of Corporate Responsibility of PETA, will discuss how the world of fashion is undergoing this vegan revolution and how PETA has become a sustainability resource.

Topics:

What is the future of fashion?

Why should consumers be concerned about wool, leather, and down?

How do the wool, leather, and down industries affect the environment?

What does this mean for major designers?

What are some vegan materials we might see at New York Fashion Week?

Where can people find more information?

Laura Shields, Ph.D., is the manager of Corporate Responsibility for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). She helps national and multinational companies move away from selling or promoting cruelly obtained animal materials, and her victories include swaying more than 350 companies—including Gap Inc., H&M, and Inditex, the three largest clothing retailers in the world—to stop selling mohair and Diane von Furstenberg to ban exotic-animal skins, fur, and angora. Just recently, Shields helped facilitate a vegan fashion collaboration between PETA and H&M. Shields' work to promote animal rights has been featured in The New York Times.