Stella McCartney, Telfar, and Catherine Zeta-Jones Among Winners of 2020 PETA Fashion Awards
Stella McCartney, Telfar, and Catherine Zeta-Jones Among Winners of 2020 PETA Fashion Awards
Group Celebrates the Fashion Moments and Progressive Brands That Have Made Big Statements for Animals This Year
London – Vegan fashion is more desirable than ever, and as consumers continue to prefer styles that no animals had to die for – as well as items made with materials that are less harmful to the environment – the PETA Fashion Awards celebrate the labels, style icons, and forward-thinking designers that have made big statements for animals in 2020.
This year, Valentino, Marks & Spencer, Next, New Look, and Uniqlo all banned alpaca from their collections, which prompted the Progress in Retail Moment. The Progress in Luxury Moment came courtesy of Mulberry, PVH Corp, Paul Smith, and SMCP Group, all of which banned exotic skins this year. Queen Elizabeth II also famously went fur-free, resulting in the Most Iconic Moment, while the Best Celebrity Collection award went to Catherine Zeta-Jones and her collaboration with Butterfly Twists on a range of vegan shoes. The Most Wanted Award went to Telfar for its sought-after vegan leather bags, and the Collaboration Award was won by Dr Martens for its vegan collection with Marc Jacobs. Stella McCartney was awarded Best Catwalk Moment for bringing an animal rights message to Fashion Week, reminding everyone that the skins we see in fashion shows come from animals.
“The hottest trend in fashion is compassion,” says PETA Director of Corporate Projects Yvonne Taylor. “As today’s designers and consumers are embracing ethically produced materials that no animal had to suffer and die for, it’s clear that the future of fashion is vegan.”
Other winners include Henrik Vibskov, winning Best Down-Free Collection for its range of coats with Ecodown® recycled-polyester filler; FABORG, which nabbed the Innovation Award for Weganool, a plant-based vegan wool; and Piferi, winner of the Vegan Luxury Award for its high-end vegan shoes. Former British Fur Trade Association CEO Mike Moser was given a Change of Heart Award for his decision to shun the fur trade and join the Fur-Free Britain campaign, calling on the UK government to ban fur sales. And on the flip side, Farfetch was named Villain of the Year for continuing to sell items containing angora – rabbit fur – despite widespread calls for the cruelly produced material to be removed from its platform.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – notes that every year, more than 1 billion animals are slaughtered in the global leather industry. Sheep raised for wool are routinely mutilated, abused, and eventually killed. Alligators are raised in crowded tanks and crudely bludgeoned to death, while snakes are nailed to trees and cut open for exotic skins. Animals on fur farms spend their entire lives confined to cramped, filthy wire cages just to be slaughtered for their fur in an industry which has recently come under fire for its worrying link to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information on each category, please visit PETA.org.uk.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; [email protected]
#