The Vegan Plume Bloom: Fashion Goes Feather-Free, Compassion Soars

Cate Blanchett is no stranger to best-dressed lists, and now there’s another “feather” in the stylish star’s cap: She nabbed PETA UK’s Red Carpet Award for putting vegan feathers in the spotlight. At the Venice Film Festival, Blanchett looked stunning in a Maison Margiela gown with edgy faux feathers. Then, at Germany’s Bambi Awards, she wore a lilac Stella McCartney dress made with soft, floaty Fevvers, a plant-based, 100% bird-friendly option.

As for McCartney, the queen of conscious fashion won Best Luxury Moment for debuting Fevvers in her collection at Paris Fashion Week. The lightness and movement of these vegan bio-based feathers perfectly mimic birds’ feathers – but no bird suffered or died for them.

Feathers Are for the Birds and ONLY for the Birds

Feathers used for fashion and home goods like duvets are stolen goods, taken by force from their rightful owners: birds like ostriches, chickens, turkeys, peacocks, and ducks. Gentle, family-protective chickens and turkeys, whose feathers are often labeled “marabou,” spend their entire lives confined on filthy factory farms before being shackled upside down and killed.

In PETA’s first-ever exposé of the highly secretive ostrich-slaughter industry – which kills these inquisitive birds for their plumage and skin – we filmed workers violently forcing terrified young ostriches into restraints and slitting their throats in full view of their flockmates. A PETA Asia investigation into duck farms and slaughterhouses that supply down labeled “responsible” showed that conscious birds are stabbed in the neck and dismembered. In China, PETA Asia found birds shrieking in pain as workers yanked out fistfuls of feathers, often causing bloody wounds. No puffer or pillow is worth that suffering.

Cruelty Flies out of Fashion

Thanks to PETA entities’ exposés, our provocative protests, and behind-the-scenes work with designers and retailers, the whole clothing industry is moving away from feathers. Dozens of designers and brands around the world have signed on to PETA’s Feather-Free Pledge, which was launched by McCartney. These include ba&sh – the first French brand to take the pledge – and more than 50 top designers in India.

In collaboration with PETA UK, fashion design students from Kingston University, Coventry University, and Northbrook College crafted an array of vegan feathers made from recycled fibers, metals, and other materials. For her dramatic design using Desserto, a cactus-based material, Northbrook College student Corinne James flew off with PETA UK’s One to Watch Award.

They’re Flocking to Faux

Popular lingerie and loungewear brand Adore Me banned feathers after hearing from PETA. Helsinki Fashion Week and Ibiza Fashion Festival have both signed PETA’s pledge, and feathers from wild birds are now banned from fashion weeks in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Melbourne. Victoria’s Secret earned its wings – and a “thank you” from PETA’s larger-than-life “ostrich” – for featuring gorgeous and innovative vegan angel wings at its fashion show again. The company had previously used some 620,000 feathers for a single show. And voco hotels, with locations around the world, confirmed that its bedding is now 100% vegan, and the same is true of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts brands in the Americas, including the Caribbean.