Shirts - types and cruelty free, vegan options

Shirts are an everyday clothing item and probably, between all the different shirt's types, the most commonly worn clothing type for every single person in the world. For that reason precisely it is extremely important to mind what material shirts are made of to reduce animal cruelty, animal suffering, unethical human treatment and impact on the environment.

Common materials and fabrics of shirts' production

Most common materials and fabrics used in shirts' production are cotton, linen and other plant based textiles; synthetic fabrics and man-made fabrics made shirts are very common and are on the rise thanks to constant improvements in technology and profitability; and also silk, leather and wool made shirts are still common, even though in recent decades those garments loose their place to man-made and synthetic ones. In addition to an obvious disadvantage of cruelty involved in animal derived material production, plant based and synthetics may have a fair share of issues, such as unethical workforce treatment and environmental impact of production. There is a lot to be done to improve that and fortunately there are some steady incremental improvements made over time, especially with synthetics production technology. Public concerns and involvement is what make this improvements possible - we should keep it in mind while choosing our purchase.

Buttons, zippers and shirt decorations

Of coarse shirts are mostly made of textile, but we have some other components we shouldn't forget about. Those are buttons, zipper and different types of shirt's decorations. You shouldn't be worrying about zipper's production materials – those will be vegan, just make sure your zipper doesn't have a leather pull attached to it. Buttons are mostly vegan too, although it is possible to find ones made of animal's horns – those are very rare and unreliable, so manufactures won't typically use them but it is worth checking out. Decoration on the other hand can be made of animal based materials, like leather or fur, or can be glued using animal derived adhesives (even though synthetic glues are most common and are on the rise). The glue is probably the toughest one to check the ingredients of, best way being asking a manufacturer.

Here is a little more info for each shirt type...

T-shirs, polo shirts, shirt sleeve jersey, tank tops and sleeveless shirt

can be worn during warm and hot seasons or as an additional layer of cold insulation below some warm cloths in a cold weather. Those shirts are commonly produced from plant based, man made or synthetic materials therefore it is really straight forward to find a vegan shirt. Just check it's label to make sure that it's 100% cruelty free materials.

Blouses and dress shirts

those are used especially as a work outfits or for special occasions. Although they may differ in sleeve length, pattern and fabric thickness, comfort and aesthetics is the name of the game for this shirt type. Blouses and dress shirts are mostly made of vegan (plant based or man- made) fabrics, one common exception is silk which is very commonly used in aesthetic outfits. For that reason it is very important to watch out for your shirt production material to avoid investing in animal cruelty. By the way, ahimsa silk is perfectly animal friendly option (see a paragraph on ahimsa silk in our animal based materials article for more details).

Long sleeve shirts or jerseys

Long sleeve shirts or jerseys are produced primarily for colder seasons. Some of them can be made as thermal cloths, meaning they are being cold-protective. It is quit easy to find a vegan options of long sleeve shirts and jerseys, as a majority of them are made of cotton, other plant based and man-made fibers. Just check a shirt's label to find out all it's fabric components and make sure there aren't any animal based ones.

Sweatshirts and hoodies

Sweatshirts and hoodies are providing some warmth during cold seasons. While aesthetics is as always quit important, those types of shirts' primarily role, along with cardigans and sweaters, is to provide it's owner some warmth, like some thermal insulation by the means of an air trapped between it's fibers or otherwise. Common materials for sweatshirts and hoodies are cotton, wool and synthetic fabrics like nylon or some kind of blend. Although wool and other animal based hoodies and sweatshirts are less common then non-animal ones, it is still important to make sure you are purchasing vegan shirt by checking the label. Hoodies can be sometimes decorated by fur, synthetic or a real animal fur. So if you encounter it on a hoodie you like, please make sure it is synthetic.

Cardigans and sweaters

Cardigans and sweaters are worn in cold weather, typically over some lighter shirts. As a cold weather clothing it is very important for them to be warm or even have some heat retaining properties. Unfortunately, it is very common for sweaters and cardigans to be made of animal derived fabrics, especially from wool of different animals – most commonly sheep wool and cashmere (goat wool) or blended fabrics with wool being mixed in them. Silk made types are also freely available. Even though, cotton, linen and man-made types are also very common and you should look for those options if animal well-being is important to you.

Vests

Vests, also called waistcoat in Britain, is a sleeveless buttoned shirt. It is usually worn over long sleeve shirt and it can be formal, simple or even luxurious. Vests can basically be made of any materials: from cotton and denim to silk and leather, to wool, synthetics, man made and blended fabrics. You can only be sure that your purchase is vegan if you check the label to make sure no animal products involved or ask a store stuff or producing company.

For information on outdoor and sport shirts please check out our article about outdoors and spots clothing.

Some more advise:

Even though this site is mainly dealing with animal well being promotion, there are other ethical issues which are important to us as well. In addition to vegan shirt buying tips given above there are some advise on issues of ethics and environment. As a general rule, recycled and organic brands frequently are more environmentally friendly and will offer better solution for ethical workforce treatment. Unethical workforce treatment in a textile industry is a major concern that should be taken into account by the consumers.
Even though it is harder to make sure that your shirt was produced by ethical company then checking textiles list, we believe it is worth your time. Work-force ethical treatment as well as efforts to reduce harm to the environment is really important. Companies specializing on vegan or cruelty free clothing production are also a good bet on ethical and environmental issues, although those products often are more expensive. Please be aware on those issues and keep them in mind during your next shirt shopping.