Entrepreneur promotes cruelty-free fashion

Vegan Tiger CEO Yang Yoo-na / Courtesy of Yang Yoo-na

By Kim Bo-eun

The term ‘vegan fashion’ will baffle many in Korea, where awareness of veganism is low.

However, with Italian fashion house Gucci’s recent announcement it will go fur-free starting next year, more are becoming familiar with the concept.

Also behind efforts to promote animal rights is Yang Yoo-na, 34, who runs the cruelty-free fashion brand, Vegan Tiger.

“Basically, it means we do not use any sort of animal fiber _ so no fur, leather, wool, angora or buttons made from animal horns,” Yang said in an interview at her office in Seoul Innovation Park last month. “We use substitutes instead.”

Yang said there are many quality artificial fur and leather materials, but this is not the case for wool or silk.

“I spend a lot of time finding the right textiles,” she said.

The bottom line is to make the best possible substitutes.

“If you are targeting people who like fur, you have to make substitutes good enough so they will opt for them,” Yang said.

“We produce high-quality, trendy apparel for all four seasons.”

In order to promote its message, the brand also creates slogan-printed items.

Vegan Tiger donates 5 percent of its profits to anti-fur and animal protection movements.

Yang sells the products on the brand’s online mall as well as at a shop for social brands at Doota Mall in the fashion market of Dongdaemun.

“Vegan Tiger is a nickname people gave me for my personality traits _ they say I am quick-tempered, strong and forward-looking,” Yang said, laughing.

The brand has a woman wearing a tiger mask as its logo.

Yang worked for more than six years in the fashion industry.

She then encountered an incident which made her dedicate herself to animal rights.

At the time, a severe case of foot-and-mouth disease hit local farms, and farmers buried large numbers of cows and pigs alive.

“It occurred to me that people are able to protest when they experience injustice, but animals silently endure cruelty or are killed,” Yang said. “I wanted make their voices heard.”

This prompted her to join an animal rights group. At the time Yang became vegan, but when she sought vegan fashion items, there were hardly any available.

“I realized it was not enough to carry out campaigns _ there needed to be substitutes and good quality nice ones.”

Along with running the vegan fashion brand, Yang aims to promote veganism through festivals which she has been organizing.

The most recent one held last month had 80 booths and over 6,000 people attended the event.

“Being a vegan is not just about not eating animal products _ it is a lifestyle of not wearing animal fibers, not using cosmetics that use animal testing and animal byproducts, as well as reducing waste,” Yang said.

“But I think it is important to lower the barrier for those learning about veganism for the first time. We first try to inform them there are many substitutes for meat and cheese. Although the market is still small, it is continuing to grow,” she said.