Does Sustainable Leather Exist?

In fashion, the most common animal material is leather. Leather can withstand wear and tear and last in your closet for decades. ​“Very sustainable, right?” we hear you think. However, animal leather is a very controversial topic. The production process is known to harm animals and has a significant environmental impact. Leather’s ecological impacts and low animal welfare standards have caused the popularity of vegan leather to rise. Unfortunately, most common vegan alternatives are, at least partly, made from plastics and could potentially be ranked low in terms of their sustainability. At COSH! this has us wondering if sustainable leather actually exists.

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Option One: Animal Leather

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Animal leather is the term for processed skins used for fashion, cars or furniture. Cowhides comprise 90% of the leather used in the fashion industry. Although it’s widely available, Rebecca Cappelli (2022), director of the documentary SLAY, states that making leather is a complex process: ​“The stages before tanning involve salting, removing the hairs, degreasing and soaking. Then, the skins go through many chemical baths to remove unwanted hairs and fats and prepare them for tanning, dyeing and finishing.” The sustainability of our animal leather clothing depends on how these stages are completed and how the animals are farmed, lived and slaughtered.

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Chrome Tanning vs. Vegetable Tanning

The tanning process is necessary to transform a raw hide into leather and stop the skin from rotting.

The most common method is chrome tanning, whereby chemical products are used to treat the leather. This method is highly toxic. When the remaining contaminated water is disposed of, it can wreak havoc on aquatic ecosystems and even negatively impact human health. Those working in tanneries face increased disease risk due to chemical-heavy, polluted water flowing through their streets and into irrigation systems. In addition, many workers are subjected to modern slavery in various countries.

If opting for chemically tanned leather, it is essential to choose European tanneries because they are subjected to highly regulative legislation which ensures that no harmful substances are released into the natural world. Unfortunately, this can’t be guaranteed in other parts of the world. For example, India’s laxly regulated leather industry has caused devastating pollution and ultimately negatively impacted human health.

Using a chrome-free tanning agent can significantly reduce the environmental impact of tanning. Vegetable tanning, derived from tree bark and plants, requires no chemical substances. This process is not only kinder to the environment but also safeguards the workers carrying out the process.

Using cleaner technological methods in preserving raw skins, unhairing, tanning, and dyeing can make a dramatic difference in leather’s sustainability!

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Is Leather a Byproduct of the Meat Industry?

The sustainability of leather is often declared with the statement that leather is a byproduct of the meat industry and would otherwise be thrown away, arguing that our handbags and shoes are helping reduce waste. Therefore, animal hides that would instead end up in landfills are transformed into clothing. Although this seems like a step towards circularity, labelling animal hides as a byproduct is far too simple, white-washing a thriving industry. 

The global market for leather goods generates an estimated 150 billion dollars annually. Waste reduction is certainly not a goal, and the documentary SLAY states that, because of the harmful effects of chrome tanning, ​“it would actually be better for the environment if we threw away skins and let them rot in a dump, rather than turning them into leather.” Instead of being a byproduct, leather is, in fact, a co-product of the meat industry, generating billions of dollars.

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The Environmental Impact of Farming

Even if we label leather as a byproduct of the meat industry, the industry in its current state is far from sustainable or ethical! It is one of the most significant contributors to global warming, requiring vast amounts of land and enormous amounts of precious water as cows get very thirsty! While some ranchers do their best to farm ethically and sustainably, it’s not enough to mitigate the environmental footprint of animal farming on such a grand scale.

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Deforestation of the Amazon

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The cattle industry is the most significant global driver of the Amazon rainforest’s deforestation and other tropical forests. How exactly is deforestation linked to livestock farming, you ask? The farmers depend on large amounts of grain and soy to feed their livestock, causing football fields of rainforest to be cut down and burned. The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest and a biodiversity hotspot, home to countless endangered species and rare medicinal plants. It is also a key climate regulator.

A recent study by Stand (2021) focused on tracking leather exported by JBS, one of Brazil’s most prominent contributors to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. It demonstrated that numerous fashion brands have connections to this company and are likely funding deforestation. These include H&M, Zara, Prada, Ralph Lauren and Dr. Martens, to name a few.

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Animal Welfare

Cappelli shows us how animals might be treated during the different stages of the leather supply chain. Most leather comes from countries like India, Brazil and China, with poor animal welfare laws in place. Calves are often quickly separated from their mothers for slaughter, which is stressful and results in depression. Cattle are legally and painfully mutilated in standard leather supply chains. Cappelli states that ​“best practice for the slaughter of cattle is considered to be shooting a captive-bolt gun into an animal’s head before slicing their throat to bleed out eventually”. Across many leather production companies, cows are documented to be fully conscious while bleeding out — a horrific reality.

Perceptions of animal welfare vary between countries. Today, the EU has some of the world’s most humane farming and slaughtering practices. Unfortunately, the animal welfare goals set and their implementation in practice regularly show an existential gap, but thankfully, improvement is ongoing!

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Can Animal Leather Be Genuinely Sustainable?

In our opinion, animal leather will never be fully environmentally and animal-friendly. The leather industry faces critical challenges, such as increasing sustainability and transparency in its supply chains.

However, animal leather can last for decades, is easy to recycle and, depending on how it has been processed, does not burden the environment when decomposing. Further steps have been taken in the Netherlands in response to the need for systemic change. For example, leather was included in the Sustainable Garments and Textiles covenant, in which Dutch companies, trade unions and the government agreed to work together on social improvements, the prevention of animal suffering and the reduction of adverse environmental effects. In addition, a growing group of brands are now prioritising the ecological friendliness of their leather products.

You can also make more sustainable choices by looking for transparent brands communicating where their leather comes from and the steps taken to protect animals. Short local production chains are more transparent, often more sustainable, and animal friendly. Also, opt for European-made, vegetable-tanned leather from organic livestock farms.

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Option Two: ​‘Pleather’

A lack of traceability throughout the animal leather industry makes it extremely difficult for buyers to learn more about sustainability and animal welfare issues related to the production processes. Therefore, many consumers opt for ​‘pleather’, a vegan leather made from plastic. Let’s check out whether this is more sustainable.

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The Ins and Outs of Pleather

When Michael Jackson wore plastic leather in his early moon-walking days, people called it ​‘pleather’. This material has seen a dramatic revival in recent years. However, just like with animal leather, there are environmental concerns to consider with this vegan alternative.

Vegan leather is a material that mimics leather and is predominantly made from two different plastic polymers: polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The main drawback of plastic is its non-biodegradability and, ironically, its molecular durability, taking from 500 to 1000 years to break down. Burning plastics as waste disposal releases toxic chemicals, causing environmental pollution and health issues.

In addition, plastic often ends up in bodies of water or landfills. Synthetic fibres from clothing are the most significant source of microplastic pollution found in the oceans. The microplastic fragments end up in marine life. So even though vegan leather is coined as animal friendly, ​‘pleather’ harms millions of species because of its inability to biodegrade.

Lastly, fossil fuels and chemicals are required to create this fibre, including non-natural dyes and vast amounts of water. Although plastic is durable, its fibre form wears out much quicker than animal leather.

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Can Plastic Vegan Leather Be Sustainable?

Given the environmental damage caused by plastics, which form the basis of vegan leather, further elaboration on its impact on the earth’s biodiversity seems unnecessary.

Option Three: Non-Plastic, Non-Animal Leather

The third option focuses on avoiding animal byproducts and plastic leather alternatives. Scientists and innovative companies are continually introducing new kinds of leather-like materials. In their search for sustainable leather, four categories have emerged: plant-based leather, silicone-based leather, lab-grown leather and recycled leather.

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Plant-Based Leather

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Vegan leather from plant fibres is also available as an alternative to harmful plastic. Natural products such as cork, coconut, pineapple, apples, cacti, coffee and mushrooms are transformed into fibres and then processed into a leather-like material. Note that not all natural products are strong enough to be turned into vegan leather without adding plastics! Just because a product contains a natural ingredient derived from agricultural waste does not mean it is more environmentally friendly. By adding plastic to vegan leather, the environmental impact will increase significantly.

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Silicone-Based Leather

Silicone leather is an environmentally friendly alternative to PU and PVC. It is made of natural silicone rubber derived from sand-based silica. Silicone is part organic and part inorganic, retaining the elasticity of organic materials with the stability of an inorganic material. There are several advantages to the material:

• The production requires less water and electricity than plastic-based leather.
• Silicone is recyclable (not biodegradable, though).
• It poses less threat to the oceans than plastics and is non-toxic to soil and aquatic organisms.

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Lab-Grown Leather

Thanks to the American company Modern Meadow, growing animal leather in a lab by using cells from a biopsy is near to being achieved. The material is almost identical to natural animal leather, but its footprint is far less. Besides, its production’s controlled environment allows for size and appearance customisation.

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Recycled Leather

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You’ve probably heard of ​‘recycled leather’, but what exactly is it exactly? It is manufactured by combining scraps and residual leather fibres. The discarded pieces of animal leather are collected and then sent to the relevant factory for recycling. The leather scraps are shredded, put together with a PU binder, and compressed into a new fibre. These fibres are later coated with PU, giving it the look and feel of genuine leather. Recycled leather is, therefore, a blend of animal and pleather.

As explained earlier, adding plastics to a product is not a sustainable solution. Besides, recycled leather has a shorter lifespan compared to virgin leather. However, it is regarded as eco-friendly since it puts the potentially harmful leftovers of animal leather to good use.

With recycled leather, sustainable natural leather fibres and state-of-the-art technologies must be used to ensure no chemicals are leached in the cleaning process.

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So, does any sustainable leather exist?

Regarding sustainability and the fashion industry, buying fewer new items and quality clothing must be our priority. If the quality is impeccable, the production is as sustainable as possible, and the style ensures the product is long-lived, animal leather will be a more sustainable solution than a vegan (plastic) alternative that is not recyclable and has a short life span. The non-plastic, non-animal options are developing, signalling a promising shift towards a more sustainable future for the leather industry!

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Read these blog posts to learn more.

• The story behind your leather handbag and shoes
• Is vegan leather better for the environment and animals?
• Discover stylish and sustainable handbag labels from Belgium and The Netherlands