The True Cost of Wearing Leather
Demand for leather is killing millions of animals, exploiting tannery workers, and devastating our environment
Cows, crocodiles, and cats are among the more than billion animals who are killed for their skins every year.
Now, the fashion industry has begun its move away from leather - Vogue recently reported how consumers are “increasingly content” with phasing the material out of their lives, with a recent poll revealing that 23 percent of people in the US think leather is an inappropriate material to use in clothing.
Alongside the fashion industry, the other major use of leather is in car interiors - but now premium car brands including Mercedes, Tesla and Land Rover are moving towards non-animal leathers as the default.
So why is leather falling out of favour with brands and consumers?
Animal Abuse
More than a billion cows, pigs, goats, sheep, alligators, ostriches, kangaroos, and even dogs and cats are cruelly slaughtered for their skins every year.
These animals will face needless and horrific suffering - from being kept in crowded and filthy factory-farm conditions, to having their throats slit in slaughterhouses.
Humans Rights Abuses
To produce finished leather, the animal skins first need to be treated in a process called tanning - which is where the hides are doused in a chemical liquid to stop them from decomposing. Reports show that 90 per cent of tanning uses chromium tanning - a “slush of chemicals and gases, including carcinogenic chromium”. As this toxic liquid is met with strict regulations in the US and Europe, the tanning process often takes place in developing countries, where exploited workers - including children as young as ten in some countries - must work to tan the leather despite its well-documented, dangerous side effects.
The severe side effects of working in toxic tanneries include long-term cancer, reproductive problems, and skin reactions. In some ‘tannery towns’ - places where many residents work with toxic chemicals and the waste released into local waterways - around 90 per cent of tannery workers die before they reach the age of 50.
Environment
Despite falling demand, it is estimated that the leather industry will still need to slaughter 430 million cows annually by 2025.
This need for the extensive rearing of livestock creates a huge strain on our environment, including the overuse of water and land resources, as well as harmful gas emissions. Deforestation is a particularly destructive result of the leather industry too, which includes large areas of the Amazon being cleared for cattle ranching.
Sustainable, Cruelty-Free Alternatives
From car interiors to fashion runways, forward-thinking brands are using innovative materials to create sustainable alternatives to leather. These products are produced without killing animals, and are often sourced sustainably from recycled or waste materials.
That’s why leading brands such as H&M and Hugo Boss are using the likes of pineapple leather and grape leather in their collections, whilst car manufacturers such as Tesla and Mercedes are leading the automobile industry away from using animal-skins-as-default for their interiors.
With so many stylish alternatives to leather now mainstream, going leather-free has never been easier for the ethical consumer.
Species Unite
A collection of stories of those who fight the good fight on behalf of animals.