Joshua Katcher, tireless founder and designer of the cruelty-free men’s label Brave Gentleman, has found himself on the receiving end of some much-appreciated altruism. Alan Cumming—actor, activist, and recipient of PETA’s Humanitarian Award last year—agreed to model the Fall lookbook after discovering the label while on a quest for vegan clothing. “I love Joshua,” he crushed, “and I love what he is doing in terms of making more people aware that you can look really stylish at the same time as being completely animal cruelty–free.”
The full scope of Katcher’s ethical commitment is rather head-spinning, just as it is to gape about his Williamsburg shop, with its complete future-is-now men’s range, and know that not a single animal product was used—neither fur, leather, wool, nor down. Take, for instance, his signature biker jackets in future-wool. They’e not wool at all, of course, but a recycled cotton-poly blend respun (in a waste-diverted, dye-free process in a fair-labor Brazilian mill) to create new tweed and twill. No sheep harmed. Same goes for those luxurious long coats on Cumming, lined in future-silk made from broken-down water bottles. Classic shoes and bags are cobbled out of—you guessed it—future-leather, a high-tech, non-toxic polyurethane microfiber that’s every bit as supple as the real thing. Shirting comes from organically grown cotton, and buttons from the corozo nut—absolutely no horn or bone.
An adjunct Parsons professor and frequent guest speaker who clearly knows his stuff, Katcher applauds labels from Gucci to Michael Kors for ditching fur. Ultimately he thinks fur will be 3-D printed; already leather can be lab-grown or made from mycelium. And here’s another surprise he has for Vogue readers: Around the turn of the last century, a socialite and editor by the name of Josephine Redding was a very early advocate of animal welfare, admonishing horse-carriage cruelty and dog fighting right in the pages of the magazine. There’s a chapter about her in Katcher’s new book, Fashion Animals.
You can expect to see more love from Cumming. “As someone who cares about the environment, about being kind to animals, being kind to my body,” he said, “I am very into spreading the message of style without sacrificing compassion.” He then noted another perk from his Brave Gentleman shoot: “A box of vegan donuts was brought in by the people from Dun-Well donuts, and I just chowed down—not the best thing to do before you’re about squeeze into some tailored pants!”
