I'm Turning Vegan. Now What About My Clothes?

You sorted the food. You found your protein sources, figured out what to do at restaurants, stopped apologising for asking if there's milk in the bread. That part is mostly running on autopilot now. But at some point — and it happens to almost everyone, whether it takes a day, a week, or a year — you look at your wardrobe and think: there's a lot of leather in here.

This is the next step most people take, and it tends to arrive in its own time — not necessarily at the beginning, when food is enough to think about, but when the rest of life is settled and you start looking outward. It's a reasonable place to be, and this article is meant to help you move through it without guilt and without overwhelm.

First: what you already own

This is the question that sits uncomfortably for a lot of people — and for good reason. When you start seeing animal products for what they are, continuing to wear them can feel contradictory. That feeling is valid. If you want to move things on, do it. Donate, resell, or swap what you no longer feel comfortable wearing. A leather jacket that sits unworn in your wardrobe because you can't bring yourself to put it on is more useful on someone else's back — and donating or reselling it means it doesn't go to waste.

For those who aren't ready to let go of everything at once — or simply can't afford to — there's a reasonable case for using what you already have and replacing things as they wear out. The harm happened when the item was made. Throwing it away doesn't undo that, and replacing everything immediately has its own environmental cost. There's no meaningful ethical gain in discarding something perfectly good today just to buy a replacement tomorrow.

Both approaches are valid. What matters is the direction: that the next thing you buy is a better choice. That's where the real change happens.

Understanding what's actually in your wardrobe

Before you can make different choices going forward, it helps to know what you're actually working with. Most people are surprised by how many animal-derived materials show up once they start looking.

A useful habit: start reading garment labels the way you now read food labels. The EU requires clothing to list fibre content, and footwear to show materials across the upper, lining, and sole. It takes about thirty seconds and becomes automatic quickly.

Where to start: a practical order

Not all categories are equal in terms of frequency, cost, or impact. This is a reasonable order of priority:

1. Footwear first. Shoes wear out regularly and are replaced often, which makes them the most natural starting point. They're also the category with the most developed vegan alternatives — materials, construction, and quality have all improved significantly in the last decade. When you're ready to replace a pair, look for brands that verify the whole shoe, not just the upper. A shoe can have a synthetic outer and a leather lining, and unless the brand has checked every component — including adhesives and dyes — you can't be certain it's fully animal-free. At NAE Vegan Shoes, every pair is verified across all components: upper, lining, sole, and adhesives. Materials include Piñatex, apple leather, cork, and OEKO-TEX certified microfibre — each chosen for performance as much as principle.
2. Belts and small leather goods. Belts, wallets, and bags are lower cost than shoes and jackets, which makes them relatively easy to replace. Good quality alternatives in microfibre, recycled materials, and plant-based leathers are widely available now at all price points.
3. Everyday knitwear. Wool jumpers, cardigans, and socks are the category where alternatives have improved most visibly. Organic cotton, recycled cotton, Tencel, bamboo, and linen all offer warmth and breathability. For cold-weather performance, recycled fleece is hard to beat.
4. Outerwear. Winter coats and jackets are the most expensive category, which makes them the lowest priority for immediate replacement. When the time comes, look for: no down filling (recycled polyester fill or Tencel perform well), no wool or shearling, and no leather or suede detailing. Many mainstream brands now offer fully synthetic options.
5. Accessories. Scarves, hats, gloves — mostly straightforward to replace with plant-based alternatives. Silk scarves can be replaced with viscose, Tencel, or recycled polyester equivalents. Wool hats and gloves with cotton, bamboo, or recycled fibre versions.

How to read a garment label

EU garment labels list fibre content by percentage — so a 'wool blend' might be 40% wool and 60% acrylic, or 80% wool and 20% polyester. The label has to list any fibre that makes up more than 2% of the total content.

Footwear labels use standardised pictograms across three sections (upper, lining, outer sole):

Check all three sections separately. It's common to find a synthetic upper with a leather lining, or a leather sole under an otherwise synthetic shoe. The label tells you — but only if you look at all three rows.

What to look for in vegan alternatives

Not all vegan materials are equal, and it's worth knowing what you're choosing between.

• High-quality options worth seeking out: Piñatex (pineapple leaf fibre), apple leather, cactus leather, and cork are all plant-based with lower environmental footprints. OEKO-TEX certified microfibre is a strong synthetic option — durable, tested for harmful substances, and often better than leather in water resistance.
• Middle-ground options: Standard PU are vegan but petroleum-based. Better than leather on animal welfare, but not the most environmentally progressive choice. Fine as part of a wardrobe — just worth knowing what it is.
• Recycled materials: Recycled polyester, recycled nylon, and recycled rubber (used in soles) give existing materials a second life and are a strong choice where available.
• What to question: 'Vegan leather' is a marketing term with no legal definition. It can mean anything from Piñatex to thin PU. When you see it, check what the material actually is. A brand that genuinely makes vegan products can tell you.

The ongoing approach

Building a vegan wardrobe isn't a project you finish — it's a direction you maintain. Things wear out at different rates, your style changes, and the materials available improve over time. The most useful mindset is the same one that works for the food transition: make the best choice available each time something needs replacing, and don't treat every purchase as a moral test.

• Before buying anything new, check the label first. It takes thirty seconds and becomes automatic quickly.
• When you find a brand that does the verification work properly, stick with them. Loyalty to brands with real transparency is one of the more effective things you can do.
• Buying less overall is better for every metric. A wardrobe with fewer, better pieces — vegan and built to last — beats one full of cheap alternatives that need replacing every season.

The food part of going vegan is usually harder at the start and easier over time. The wardrobe part is almost the opposite — it feels manageable at first and gets more thorough as you learn to read labels and understand materials. Both get easier. You don't have to have it all figured out. You just have to keep going.