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Burnaby resident Nam Hee Kim produces vegan line for Kwantlen fashion show

Following in the footsteps of vegan fashion designers like Stella McCartney, Burnaby resident Nam Hee Kim is debuting her 100 per cent animal-cruelty free clothing line VEO at the annual Kwantlen fashion show next Tuesday.

Following in the footsteps of vegan fashion designers like Stella McCartney, Burnaby resident Nam Hee Kim is debuting her 100 per cent animal-cruelty free clothing line VEO at the annual Kwantlen fashion show next Tuesday.

"If you're not willing to eat the animals, then how can you possibly think of wearing them?" Kim says in a press release regarding her first VEO collection, Raw Beauty.

Kim, who emigrated from Korea to Canada with her family when she was 10, is completing her bachelor's degree in fashion design and technology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University this year.

The 24-year-old, who has lived in Burnaby for three years, went to the University of the Fraser Valley after high school and transferred her fashion design diploma credits to Kwantlen's degree program.

Kim used eco-friendly and organic fabrics, as well as recycled materials, to create the three outfits in her women's collection.

For the red jacket in the collection she used heavy 100 per cent cotton moleskin, and plant-based materials for all the other clothing, she said.

"It took me a while to find material that doesn't contain anything that even has animal glue," she said, "even just a little bit of animal product - that was the main issue that I had when I was looking."

Kim is currently applying for jobs but also hopes to travel to New York before settling in Vancouver, she said.

The Show, Kwantlen's annual fashion show, takes place April 3 at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond.

For more information on Kim's fashions, go to namheekim.com.

For tickets to the show, go to theshow2012.evenbrite.com.