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You can now buy vegan UGG boots, after the brand collaborated with fashion label Collina Strada to make an animal-free collection.
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The new shoes are available in a variety of bold and brightly colored designs. While some boots are the same style and shape as classic UGGs, others are more unusual. For example, the collection includes tall black platform boots covered with ruffles. Collina Strada is a New York-based company founded by designer Hillary Taymour. It’s known for its bright and contemporary designs.
The UGG x Collina Strada boots aren’t specifically being marketed as vegan. Instead, UGG is emphasizing the use of materials like recycled polyester microfibre, sugarcane, and TENCEL, which are all regarded as relatively eco-friendly. They are available to buy online and at selected retailers, and cost between $160 and $220.
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PETA praises the boots
This launch has arguably been a long time coming for the brand. UGG is known for using real sheepskin in its boots, and PETA has been calling on the company to use plant-based materials for a number of years. The animal rights organization has said that the new boots “embrace the future of fashion.”
“The launch of this entirely vegan line comes after PETA, peta2, and thousands of our compassionate supporters pressured UGG to stop using shearling and wool stolen from gentle sheep,” PETA wrote on its website. “As we’ve pointed out to the company, workers castrate, mutilate, and violently kill sensitive sheep before they’re stripped of their wool and skin.”
Shearling and wool are both regarded as cruel. The former refers to real sheepskin with the fleece still attached, meaning animals are farmed and killed to produce it (UGG states that it uses fur from animals killed for meat). While wool is often believed to be an ethical product, the wool industry is rife with cruelty. Sheeps* aren’t killed directly to produce it, but they will generally be slaughtered for meat after being raised for wool. While the new boots are a “step in the right direction,” PETA is urging UGG to move away completely from animal materials.
*While the English language typically refers to multiple sheeps as “sheep,” we use the former to emphasize their individuality
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