Media outlets have been receiving press releases lately spreading an outdated picture of vegan leather.
The facts are simple: animal skins are among the most polluting materials in the fashion landscape, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions; pollution of land, water and soil; and deforestation. Animal leather is often not plastic-free – it can be coated in plastic polymers for durability. Plant leather is biodegradable, while animal leather is often not recommended for composting. Innovative technology now offers plastic-free vegan leathers, including Natural Fiber Welding’s MIRUM, Biophilica’s Treekind, and Uncaged Innovations’ ELEVATE, to name a few.
The use of animal skins also requires killing over one billion animals every year, most of whom spend their entire lives in wretched conditions in the factory-farming system and face a terrifying and agonising death involving long, gruelling transportation without food or water and killing without stunning. In China’s dog-leather industry, investigators have discovered dogs being skinned alive. Labels are so vague that consumers often cannot tell the origin of their products.
Demanding vegan leather when you shop for clothing or shoes will make you part of the solution to the devastation of this unnecessary and cruel industry.
Dr Desmond Bellamy, PETA Australia
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