Let’s talk about Suits – Vegan MoFo – Vegan Wedding edition continues.

It seems fitting to follow up my post on Vegan Wedding Dresses from yesterday and talk primarily about Vegan Suits.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never given much thought to suits. Any pant suit or dress suits I’ve had were usually made of polyester, cotton, or rayon (or occasionally linen) but when JC started looking for suits for himself they all seemed to be mostly wool based.

When shopping for suits, in addition to the wool, there are a few other things to consider. Like bull-horn or buffalo horn buttons, horse, goat, camel-hair interfacing, felt (wool) fabric, linings, or silk thread. Then there are the silk ties or cummerbunds (if you’re going that route), let’s not even get started on men’s shoes (well… okay, I’ll get started on it, but that’ll be a whole separate post.)

So… what’s wrong with wool?

Well, I’ll reference The Ethical Man on this one.

In summary: Buying wool directly supports cruel practices such as mulesing, castration, tail-docking, and ear-punching. Meanwhile, industrial wool farming is energy-inefficient, land- and water-intensive, and highly pollutive. (read the whole article here – it’s quite comprehensive)

There is also a fantastic FAQ on The Discerning Brute.

If I can suggest one it is to do the same thing as I recommended with wedding dresses, look for the material you might want your suit made from. Find the 100% cotton suit, find the cotton-poly blend, the rPET, look for a hemp suit (& while you’re at it check out this dapper Burberry custom-tailored black tuxedo made out of hemp for Woody Harrelson) find the material that suits you.

I did very little research on this until now, but JC looked into it extensively online before emailing several tailors in Toronto, some of them replied, some of them didn’t – but the one he chose was Trend Custom Tailors.

We went to the initial appointment together where we all got a tour of their facilities, and JC and his brother looked through fabric books, to find a material they all liked (I helped… very little). The tailor pre-screened the books by fabric type, and JC still had several books to choose from. Out of several dozen books – there were around 5 (I’m going to call that not bad at all.)

Of course, getting a bespoke suit is not always an option, so here are just a few of the suits I found online (that I thought looked pretty great – but I’m no fashion blogger, just a suit admirer.):

Machete N Sons / Denver Bespoke

I found Denver Bespoke on Etsy first, but then I started digging around on their main website. They seem to understand what’s involved with making a vegan-friendly suit. For those of you in Denver, Colorado, you can visit them by appointment in Downtown Denver. For everyone else – they definitely do custom orders online, and based on the reviews… people seem to love them.

They make suits out of a variety of materials, but the one above is made from a bamboo based rayon.

Rawganique Vegan Hemp Business Suit

This company focuses on organic, low impact, and sustainable fibers: organic cotton, hemp, and linen, they do also sell wool socks, but otherwise appear to be mostly vegan-friendly. This suit is made entirely from hemp.  Read all about it here.

Studio Suits – Cotton Suits

If you were getting tired of seeing suits for several hundred (or thousand) dollars, this Cotton Suit from Studio Suits might just fit the bill. It comes in 29 different colours, you can customize your buttons (they have corozo aka tagua palm buttons), pleats, and nearly everything else about the suit.

Though I know nothing about Studio Suits, I do think it is a great deal.

Brave Gentle Man – Envoy

And finally, this is the Envoy, a beautiful suit from Brave Gentleman. It is a single button, two-piece tuxedo. Made with rPET (aka Recycled Polyethylene terephthalate, often from bottles), canvas, and featuring corozo buttons.

Advance warning: it is several thousand dollars.

Either way, I think Brave Gentleman is a site that is worth perusing, even just to see what’s out there, or if you’re me, just to admire the beautiful cruelty-free compassionate clothing.

More Info

Check out The Ethical Man or The Discerning Brute for Men’s Compassionate Fashion info and advice.

Sorry Not Sorry

I realized upon reading this entry over I realized that it is full of puns. All puns were unintentional when written.