“Cruelty Free” is an ethical value that is at the core of John Bartlett’s ethos. The designer has long championed animal rights, and in his collections, he does not use real leather or fur, or any other material that may compromise an animal’s well-being.

This Saturday, the designer is taking this notion a step further with the debut of a cruelty-free fashion show he has put together as a closing event to the Anti-Fur Society Vegan conference at Central Park West’s Landmark on the Park. Bartlett assembled domestic and international talent, including indie vegan-identified designers and CFDA Members such as Marc Bouwer, Gemma Kahng and Ruthie Davis.

“This is the first time I am doing this,” Bartlett told CFDA.com. “I am hoping it can become something I can do more regularly for people interested in fur-free and leather-free fashion that is buy-now, wear-now.”

Bartlett, who first unveiled an eco-luxe, 100 percent cruelty-free menswear collection at New York Fashion Week in 2012, hopes that this event will help change perceptions.

“I think people think of vegan, cruelty-free fashion as something very crunchy, unsexy and dowdy,” he said. “My agenda is to show a very luxurious, sexy, edgy group of clothes so the audience can see how you can be super-fashionable and also super-compassionate.”