The Original Doctrine of Veganism

For us, veganism has never been simply a list of things we avoid. It has always been something deeper, a guiding principle that shapes how we see the world and how we choose to move through it.

In 1944, Donald Watson and a small group of people created the word “vegan” to describe a way of living that went beyond vegetarianism. They wanted a term that clearly expressed the complete rejection of animal use. A few years later, Leslie J. Cross gave that word its most precise and enduring definition.

In 1949, Cross proposed that veganism should be understood as “the principle of the emancipation of animals from exploitation by man.” By 1951, he had refined this into a clear statement that was written into the constitution of The Vegan Society: “The word veganism shall mean the doctrine that man should live without exploiting animals.”

Cross described veganism as “essentially a doctrine of freedom.” He saw it as an attempt to free both humans and animals from what he called “the false belief that man has the moral right to use his fellow creatures for his own ends.” The focus was not on reducing suffering within systems of use. It was on rejecting the idea of use itself.

This distinction is important to us at Deed Industries. We do not approach veganism as something we follow “as far as possible and practicable.” We see it as a clear moral position: animals are not ours to use. Not for food. Not for clothing. Not for materials. Not for testing. Not for any purpose.

We have chosen to build the brand around this original understanding rather than later interpretations that introduced more flexibility. When a principle becomes negotiable, it slowly loses its power. The earlier definition leaves far less room for compromise, and that clarity is something we value deeply.
It also gives us a stronger foundation when making decisions about the products we choose to curate in our collections and the suppliers we choose. If we accept that animals should not be treated as resources, then many choices become more straightforward, even when they are challenging. We look for alternatives that do not require animal use at all, rather than seeking more acceptable ways to continue using them.

This principle is why we will not promote products made from or containing animal-derived materials, even when they are presented as traditional or sustainable. It is why transparency matters so much to us - because if we are serious about non-exploitation, we need to be willing to show how we work and where we still have work to do.

We do not claim to have solved everything. We are still learning, still searching for a better way to do business, and still working to reduce our impact wherever we can. But we start from a different place. We start from the position that animals are not resources for human use. Once that is accepted as a baseline, the direction becomes clearer.

The original doctrine of veganism, as Leslie Cross articulated it, was never intended to be convenient. It was intended to be consistent. At Deed Industries, we try to honour that consistency in everything we create and everything we choose not to create.
We believe this is what ethical luxury should rest upon, not flexible standards or marketing language, but a steady refusal to treat animals as something we are entitled to use. That refusal is not a limitation. It is the starting point for a different kind of integrity.