Vegan fashion innovations are keeping on growing and evolving quickly: from recent launches of vegan leather made out of roses and bananas and silk from oranges, joining Vegetable Cashmere™: a plant-based cashmere-alternative made from soy yarns, without any harm to animals or the environment.
Why Cashmere is Bad
When thinking about wool, people are picturing happy sheep running around in beautiful, green fields, while the reality couldn’t be farther than that. Cashmere is made from the coats of cashmere goats, who are kept by the millions in China and Mongolia, which dominate the market for this “luxury”, cruel material. According to PETA, Goats fat mass is low, and their coats protect them from the cold climates in these countries. In the Cashmere industry, they’re shorn in the middle of winter, at a time when they need their coats the most, and as a result, the vulnerable animals can die of cold stress.
In recent years, when animal welfare is well-known and spoken of, brands like Asos and H&M announced banning the usage of this cruel material. Luckily enough, we have a new vegan alternative to it in the market: Vegetable Cashmere. This vegan, sustainable and fully biodegradable material was launched by KD New York, a NY-based activewear fashion brand and used in their new collection of knitwear.
Vegetable Cashmere™: a Vegan Alternative to Cashmere Made of Soy
Vegetable Cashmere is a proprietary blend developed to address the increased demand for cashmere and the associated ethical and environmental costs. “Cashmere is considered a luxury item,” says Mr. David Lee, founder of KD New York. “Mass-producing cashmere at a cheap price point is terribly unsustainable and detrimental to animals and the earth. I have been working on an earth and animal-friendly alternative for over five years. We are now ready to roll out our first Vegetable Cashmere athleisure collection, and we are very excited.”
Development of Vegetable Cashmere began with Mr. Lee, collaborating with a factory experimenting with soy-based yarns. To achieve the look and feel of animal cashmere, a blend was developed using soy, and a proprietary blend of fibers like cotton and lyocell. The material is made entirely from certified organic plants and is BLUESIGN® approved from raw material through finished product. The plant-based material matches animal cashmere in softness with superior drape and breathability. In addition, the plant fiber brings anti-bacterial qualities and is machine-washable without shrinkage, making it truly sustainable and easy to care for.
The production of this fiber is an effort to find a solution to the harmful practices and overconsumption of animal cashmere. Although no textile can be considered perfectly sustainable, this blend is produced with minimal impact on the environment and economical use of energy and water. The soybean fiber is made from reclaimed byproducts of the organic soy industry, which would otherwise be discarded. The chemicals used in processing are reused wherever possible, making production a mostly closed-loop process. As a naturally derived fiber, Vegetable Cashmere is also biodegradable — reducing environmental impact throughout each garment’s entire lifecycle.
Support Vegetable Cashmere
To make it possible for KD New York to launch this wonderful material, feel free to pledge and support on their Kickstarter campaign, there you will be able to be one of the first ones to have Vegetable Cashmere.
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All pictures are from KD New York via Kickstarter