What’s Wrong With Leather?

With the environment going to shit all around us, some still wonder if leather is a sustainable or ethical form of fashion. The Guardian UK asks this question in a new piece which weighs the environmental impacts of leather and leather alternatives.

The pro-leather argument is similar to the argument offered by the pro-fur sect. They insist that leather, as a byproduct of the meat industry, is a sustainable material. The Guardian refutes this claim by explaining that “global production of raw cattle hides grew 24% between 1984 and 2004 - a faster growth than the production of cattle meat, at 19% over the same period.” Cattle are being raised specifically for their skin. Leather is NOT totally a byproduct of the meat industry.

Beyond increasing cattle production which raises the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the process of tanning and dying the leather involves “a mind-boggling mix of acids, salts, fungicides and bactericides - as well as chromium, sulphides and sulphates. The result is a huge amount of water use, chromium sludge, and solid and airborne chemical waste.” Even with the use vegetable dyes, choosing to wear leather still contributes to factory farming and pollution. All these things make leather a horrible “fashion” choice for someone interested in protecting the environment.

If you like the look and feel of leather you can always choose pleather. Even though pleather is made of PVC it is still the more ethical alternative if you think about the tremendous amount of destruction caused by the farming, dying, and tanning and cow skin.

For your environment, for your health, and for the animals; boycott leather.