Ethical Fashion Pop Up - Viva La Vegan

Tucked away above the vegan restaurant OJoy in Shrewsbury is a new ethical fashion pop-up shop Viva La Vegan.

Born from the passion of Jay Charlton, a vegan, and former fast fashion designer, the brand focuses on promoting and supporting ethical supply chains and more sustainable fabric use. After working in the fast fashion industry for 14 years, Jay became disheartened with the fast fashion system, finding the expansion of consumerism at the expense of the product, people and the environment conflicted with her own ethics.

The material used is mainly organic cotton, recycled plastic and reclaimed vintage items that have been reworked into new designs. I was particularly impressed by the recycled plastic t-shirts, they were of really high quality and the texture of the fabric was slightly like bamboo.

Jay's style is slightly grungy with a street wear vibe that I really like, and I especially loved the vintage pieces that had been screen printed adding a slight twist.

It was really good to see an ethical fashion brand come to such a small town, showing that fashion and style can be done in a more sustainable way. I feel like the conversation around the environmental and ethical impact of fashion needs to be expanded.

 Often environmental problems and the conversations about them, happen in small circles of people who are interested in these issues. These conversations need to happen with people who aren't interested in ethical fashion or environmentalism, people who aren't as interested in engaging with these issues. This will incite real change, as the problems that arise from this fast fashion culture are not just about animal cruelty, sweatshops or climate change, they are issues that have a major impact on consumer health.