Shraddha Kapoor, JJ Valaya, and Dia Mirza–Backed Greendigo and Anjana Arjun–Backed Sarjaa Among Winners of PETA India’s 2022 Vegan Fashion Awards

Mumbai, 29th November 2022 (GNI): As designers and brands across India meet the growing demand for vegan fashion and help transform the industry into one worth billions, this World Vegan Month (November), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India is announcing the winners of the 2022 Vegan Fashion Awards: 

·                Best Vegan Fashion Moment: Designer JJ Valaya launching his environment-friendly collection for JJV made from TENCEL Luxe vegan silk  

·                Best Vegan Fashion Style Icon: Actor Shraddha Kapoor, for her love for animals, the environment, and vegan fashion and for being stylish and beautiful, inside and out 

·                Best Vegan Shoe Line: The Tie-Dye Collection from Metro Shoes, made with comfortable animal-free materials that are kinder for the planet 

·                Best Vegan Sneakers: 7-10’s spunky, chunky, and leather-free sneakers seen in GQ and Cosmopolitan 

·                Best Vegan Kidswear Brand: Model Dia Mirza–backed Greendigo, offering vegan, organic, and chemical-free clothing for kids 

·                Best Vegan Sarees: Tata-owned Taneira’s Vegan Visions collection of stunning, silk-free sarees in collaboration with TENCEL Luxe 

·                Best Vegan Cosmetics: W for Woman’s W Beauty, a vegan make-up range that’s not tested on animals, to pair with its timeless womenswear 

·                Best Vegan Bags: Sarjaa’s fashionable vegan bags made from plant leather – apple, cactus, and pineapple – a brand founded by Anjana Arjun, daughter of actor Arjun Sarja  

·                Best Vegan Wallets: Foret’s wallets for all genders, made from light, innovative, and highly durable cork 

·                Best Vegan Film for Fashion: The documentary Slay, which takes on the fashion industry’s abuse of animals and exposes the leather industry’s exploitation of tannery workers in India 

“From Sarjaa’s innovative apple-skin bags to Metro’s sherbet-coloured sandals, this year’s winners are shunning animal materials in favour of innovative, modern textiles,” says PETA India Manager of Fashion, Media and Celebrity Projects Monica Chopra. “PETA India is celebrating those involved in vegan fashion, making India and the rest of the world a kinder place for animals.” 

PETA entities have released numerous videos revealing that workers hit, kick, and mutilate sheep for their wool during shearing; leave goats with bloody, gaping wounds at mohair and cashmere operations; slit the throats of cows and buffaloes for leather; ram metal rods down conscious crocodiles’ spines in the exotic skins industry; suffocate, electrocute, and bludgeon animals to death on fur farms; and boil silkworms alive to produce silk. PETA India’s latest investigation of Mumbai’s Deonar slaughterhouse found appalling cruelty to animals for leather. 

PETA India also notes that turning animal skin into garments requires massive amounts of energy and dangerous chemicals that damage the environment and harm human health. According to the World Health Organization, in the key leather-tanning areas of Bangladesh, 90% of tannery workers, many of whom are children, die before the age of 50 as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals. 

PETA India – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETAIndia.com or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.  Ends GNI SG