I have like 4 new posts in mind and hopefully, I'll get to at least a few of them in the next few weeks. They just mostly require my lazy butt uploading pics.
Anyway, I wanted to let vegans out there know about something very NOT vegan. I think it's pretty much impossible to avoid hearing about the new Heat Tech shirts by Uniqlo. I've heard that these shirts really are warmer than anything else.
A little background for people reading outside of Japan. Japan has pretty much the worst winters ever and make me wanna die. And I'm from Wisconsin, so that's saying something. It's not that it is ridiculously cold, in fact, it only gets below zero (in Celsius) for January and February. Recently it's been about 8 degrees Celsius getting up to 14 if it's sunny. That's a range of 45-55 Fahrenheit. But there is NO central heating, so basically inside is the same temperature as outside. In addition, there is no insulation or double-pained windows, so sometimes it feels like a wind is blowing right through them. The heaters most used are these oil powered death machines. They result in at least a few fires and deaths by carbon monoxide every year. But these are only in the main rooms, so no heat in the toilets, hallways, bathrooms, etc...The electric ones cost a fortune to run and so I usually just leave it on for a few hours to fall a sleep and just before getting out of bed. Try changing clothes when you can see your breath! I work at a public school and we can't turn our heat on until the hallways reach below 10 degrees (50 Fahrenheit) at 8 in the morning, which hasn't happened yet. So I typically wear 3 shirts to school. I'll increase to 4 in January and February, as those are the coldest months. Anyway, you get the idea, it's really freaking cold here in a very different way then in North America.
So the whole point of that was, you can see why these heat tech shirts are very popular, the thought of only needing 2 shirts and not having so many layers on that I can't bend my arms was very attractive.
Last weekend, as usual, Uniqlo was having a big sale (Uniqlo only has sales on Sat. and Sun.). I picked out a basic long sleeve heat tech shirt and got in line. The materials of the shirt are pretty typical, polyester, nylon, rayon...So my boyfriend and I are wondering what makes them so amazing. On the back of the bag the shirt comes in, they have a big thing about heat tech and how it was made and how it works. About halfway down, he spots the word 「ミルクプロティン」 "milk protein". We were both like WTF? I put the shirt back and we left. We told one of our vegan friends what we saw because he'd already told us he bought one. He was so angry, so he called their toll free line and asked about it. And they do indeed use milk protein in the production of their heat tech line, but of course assured us that people with allergies could still wear them (haha!). So weird!
Just wanted to put the word out there that Uniqlo's Heat Tech line is NOT vegan for others who may easily miss it on their packaging. Uniqloのヒートテックはビーガンではないです。ミルクプロティン入ってるので。
So I guess I'll still be dressing like that kid from a Christmas Story this winter.
"I can't put my arms down!"
--Pamela
Anyway, I wanted to let vegans out there know about something very NOT vegan. I think it's pretty much impossible to avoid hearing about the new Heat Tech shirts by Uniqlo. I've heard that these shirts really are warmer than anything else.
A little background for people reading outside of Japan. Japan has pretty much the worst winters ever and make me wanna die. And I'm from Wisconsin, so that's saying something. It's not that it is ridiculously cold, in fact, it only gets below zero (in Celsius) for January and February. Recently it's been about 8 degrees Celsius getting up to 14 if it's sunny. That's a range of 45-55 Fahrenheit. But there is NO central heating, so basically inside is the same temperature as outside. In addition, there is no insulation or double-pained windows, so sometimes it feels like a wind is blowing right through them. The heaters most used are these oil powered death machines. They result in at least a few fires and deaths by carbon monoxide every year. But these are only in the main rooms, so no heat in the toilets, hallways, bathrooms, etc...The electric ones cost a fortune to run and so I usually just leave it on for a few hours to fall a sleep and just before getting out of bed. Try changing clothes when you can see your breath! I work at a public school and we can't turn our heat on until the hallways reach below 10 degrees (50 Fahrenheit) at 8 in the morning, which hasn't happened yet. So I typically wear 3 shirts to school. I'll increase to 4 in January and February, as those are the coldest months. Anyway, you get the idea, it's really freaking cold here in a very different way then in North America.
So the whole point of that was, you can see why these heat tech shirts are very popular, the thought of only needing 2 shirts and not having so many layers on that I can't bend my arms was very attractive.
Last weekend, as usual, Uniqlo was having a big sale (Uniqlo only has sales on Sat. and Sun.). I picked out a basic long sleeve heat tech shirt and got in line. The materials of the shirt are pretty typical, polyester, nylon, rayon...So my boyfriend and I are wondering what makes them so amazing. On the back of the bag the shirt comes in, they have a big thing about heat tech and how it was made and how it works. About halfway down, he spots the word 「ミルクプロティン」 "milk protein". We were both like WTF? I put the shirt back and we left. We told one of our vegan friends what we saw because he'd already told us he bought one. He was so angry, so he called their toll free line and asked about it. And they do indeed use milk protein in the production of their heat tech line, but of course assured us that people with allergies could still wear them (haha!). So weird!
Just wanted to put the word out there that Uniqlo's Heat Tech line is NOT vegan for others who may easily miss it on their packaging. Uniqloのヒートテックはビーガンではないです。ミルクプロティン入ってるので。
So I guess I'll still be dressing like that kid from a Christmas Story this winter.
"I can't put my arms down!"
--Pamela
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6 comments:
what!? Here I am playing it safe w/ down free vest from Uniqlo...ai yi yi. How does milk protein keep you warm? ;(
I'd like to point out that the milk protein is only used in women's and kid's wear, so the men's line is vegan. From http://www.uniqlo.com/try2/about_en.html
... good to know, now that I've already stocked up on it (grumble grumble). I suppose I DID buy the stuff before I was technically vegan, but still. Grr.
Thanks for pointing it out, though, I won't buy any more.
Hello!
I got your blog url from veganfreak :o)
Thank you for this great information! I've bought a lot of uniqlo clothes (but not so much from the heat-tech line) so I think that I will have to do a big sorting out when I get back home!
Wow, thanks for the heads up - I nearly bought some of this range this winter. Milk protein?!?! How odd!
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