Wth the recent influx of socially-conscious products to popular brands like NYX and American Apparel, sweatshop-free and vegan items are becoming much more accessible to the regular consumer. These alternative options are gaining popularity as more brands like Kat Von D and Urban Decay announce their plans to create more vegan options, with celebrity voices backing them.
Juniors Sarah Macias and Ella Rubin, purveyors of vegan and cruelty-free makeup, both found that they could no longer turn a blind eye when in makeup stores because of documentaries they recently watched.
Macias relates her transition by saying, “After I researched animal cruelty and testing, it opened my eyes a lot and I couldn’t ignore the problem anymore.”
Rubin adds, “I didn’t even know how much clothing we waste as a country before I watched the documentaries. But we waste millions of tons of fabric in landfills, and thrift stores usually only end up selling about 10 percent of what they buy.”
Even as many are turning to this trend, the majority of teens are still uninformed of the issues that workers or animals face. Sophomore Lily Askari, a vegetarian but not a regular consumer of vegan makeup or fair trade clothes, explains, “If I had a cruelty free and a non-cruelty free option, I would definitely take the cruelty free option [because] I don’t want to support animal testing, but I feel like [going fully socially-conscious] would be really difficult.”
Recently, celebrity voices in favor of veganism, cruelty free makeup and fair trade clothing are more abundant than ever, causing widespread media coverage. Countless celebrities and internet personalities like Ellen DeGeneres, Ariana Grande, Joey Graceffa and Liam Hemsworth are vegan, and it seems almost as if every day there’s a new vegan in Hollywood. With all this media coverage of the lifestyle, it’s hard to not delve into it at some point and pick up a few things that are vegan or fair trade. Askari was introduced to the idea of vegan makeup this way.
She explains, “I saw a lot of Youtubers doing it and I thought that might be a better decision because animal cruelty is awful, but I haven’t made the transition yet.” Since media is popularizing the trend, some think that people are supporting vegan and fair trade items just for the aesthetic and trend instead of knowing the real cause behind what they’re doing. Others think uninformed supporters aren’t bad because they’re still supporting a good cause, no matter what the original intent was. Either way, the trend is picking up a following and stores are rushing to accommodate.
One aspect of socially conscious shopping that might make it unappealing to the average shopper is the price. Fair trade clothing is more expensive than regular clothes, because the workers are being paid more and the facilities are nicer. For example, a pair of American Apparel jeans is $120, while a similar pair found in Forever 21 is only $29.90. “I think people see what they want to see,” senior Adeline Yu points out, as a socially responsible shopper. “They might know that what they’re buying is made in a sweatshop, and they care, but it’s just so much easier to buy that top from Forever 21 than looking around for the same one made fair trade.”
Thus, many are not able to meet the financial requirements necessary to commit to a exclusively socially conscious life. Yu agrees that the lifestyle is a costly one, but she shares “Shopping fair trade can be done very frugally through cheap thrift shops, secondhand clothes, or even raiding your mom’s closet. It isn’t difficult, it just requires more energy.”
There are many options for going partially or fully cruelty free, vegan or fair trade with budgets of all kinds. Thrifting clothes is not only a popular activity for shoppers of all ages, but it is also very environmentally friendly to recycle fabric.
With all these environmental and animal-friendly changes in our consumerism, some might see a wider variety of stores that cater to this lifestyle in the future.
