Danny Rosenthal from Sheeps discusses his company's efforts to make tennis balls vegan and sustainable, and why it's important.

Danny Rosenthal is a passionate tennis player, an animal welfare supporter and a 27-year vegan. In 2018, he discovered that most tennis balls contain wool and many tennis sneakers (even those without leather) contain animal products. He became distressed that while deriving immense pleasure from the sport he was also contributing to the harm of animals. Thus was born Sheeps. Find out more about Sheeps' mission, as well as where to find vegan tennis gear at https://www.sheeps.tennis.

Original post: https://www.sheeps.tennis/blog/the-reality-of-wool

Make Tennis Vegan Petition: https://www.change.org/p/ask-ceos-of-wilson-penn-babolat-and-dunlop-to-make-vegan-tennis-balls

Vegan Tennis Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vegantennis

Vegan Tennis LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12550563/

Original Article:

VEGANISM IS RISING IN MULTIPLE FORMS

Next Call: Wool-less Tennis Balls

By: Danny Rosenthal, Sheeps

There's been an awakening, and there's a movement afoot.

I've come to believe, for the first time since I became aware of the repercussions of consuming animal products, that veganism is no longer a niche and, rather, that it's becoming mainstream.

Recent research indicates that as much as 6% of the U.S. population or nearly 20 million people identify as vegan, representing a dramatic increase over the last several years. And the vegan population is similarly growing in countries including Germany, the UK, Australia and Israel.

As a longtime vegan residing in NYC, the alteration to the landscape via a vegan lens is dramatic. As a young adult in the early 1990s, there was barely a vegetarian restaurant in my midst and there are now well more than 100 strictly vegan restaurants in the city and dozens more loudly promote the availability of vegan options. Also, certified-vegan products now abound in Whole Foods and health food stores. Beyond Meat is fast becoming a highly potent multi-national corporation, Impossible Burgers are sold at Burger King, KFC has introduced vegan chicken, Ben and Jerry's offers 12 types of vegan non-dairy desserts and Taco Bell and Starbucks are offering vegan products. The seminal vegan brand Myoko's has been sued (unsuccessfully) by a dairy industry representative for making use of terms like "dairy" and "butter" and up to 40% of milk purchased presently is dairy-free. Not surprisingly, then, reports about the viability of the milk industry have recently been prominent.

More nascent, though, is the understanding that animal products are frequently utilized in non-food products, and more recent are business initiatives to address this matter. Vegan shoes have been embraced by Stella McCartney, Doc Martens and Adidas, Volvo has introduced vegan interiors, and multiple versions of vegan leather and suede are on the marketplace.

And then there's my personal preoccupation: tennis balls.

A couple years ago, I realized that most tennis balls contain wool. I'd known that sheep-shearing is an unnecessary and harmful act, causing profound pain to sheep and culminating in their slaughter. So, I became distressed that while deriving immense joy from the sport in which I'm enthralled, I'm a participant in this practice.

I set out to learn about the production of tennis balls and discovered that at least a few versions from popular brands inadvertently substitute synthetic materials for wool. I founded the company Sheeps for the short-term purposes of raising awareness about the plight of sheep and publicizing existing vegan tennis products and for the mid-term goal of independently producing vegan tennis balls.

The effort to produce balls, while still in progress, has been more complicated and time-consuming than I anticipated. So, I pivoted to an advocacy and communications strategy, in the form of a campaign called Make Tennis Vegan, designed to persuade the CEOs of the likes of Wilson, Penn, Babolat and Dunlop to label and market existing vegan balls accordingly, and to invest in R&D leading to the production of optimally-performing and environmentally-friendly balls.

And the vision for Sheeps extends far beyond tennis. The recent documentary film The Game Changers illustrates the growing adoption of veganism among elite athletes, and it's crucial that this development is leveraged to veganize sports equipment, such as baseballs and baseball gloves, basketballs, footballs, and soccer balls. Further, sports executives must better recognize the inextricable link between animal agriculture and climate change and pursue a full host of initiatives to reduce the detrimental effects of sports upon the natural environment. For its part, Sheeps has begun research leading to a biodegradable tennis ball.

It can be difficult to imagine the transformation of deeply ingrained cultural elements. Many doubted that slavery would be abolished, that women would vote, that LGBTQ people would marry and that racism would be on trial in this country as is today. So, it doesn't surprise me that the notion of an entirely vegan society seems farfetched to most.

If we are to achieve to achieve collective veganism, as with all transformations, the path will be lengthy and fraught and marked by incremental advances – such as, I fervently hope, the mainstreaming of vegan tennis balls.

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