The adoption of Veganuary in the UK alone is expected to have saved the earth’s atmosphere from the equivalent production of CO2 as 450,000 flights from London to Berlin, as well as 2.5 millions litres of water, according to a study by a professor at the University of Oxford. This is the impact of just 31 days. A more permanent adoption of veganism would, according to another study from the university, be the “single biggest way” to reduce our environmental impact, lowering an individual’s carbon footprint by 73 per cent.
These studies have definitively claimed that a vegan diet is less harmful to our environment than one that contains meat and dairy. This attitude often leads to the assumption that we should be adopting the same approach when it comes to our wardrobes, particularly with leather.
And, with the appetite for more sustainable fashion on the increase (searches are up 75 per cent year on year, according to global fashion search engine Lyst), brands are looking to vegan alternatives in the hope of delivering on this demand. But, are vegan-leather alternatives actually better for our environment than the real thing? We spoke to designers on both sides of the argument to try and discover the most sustainable way to be wearing the material.
What exactly is vegan leather?
Vegan leather is a material that mimics leather, but is created from artificial or plant products instead of animal skins.
Sandra Sandor, the creative director of Paris Fashion Week label Nanushka, favours vegan leather for her products, many of which are worn and loved by some of the biggest names in fashion.
Nanushka : Runway - Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2020/2021
Details at Nanushka’s autumn/winter 2020 show
KRISTY SPAROWGETTY IMAGES
“The vegan leather we use is buttery soft and it feels like leather, sometimes people mistake it for real leather, so it's definitely not compromising on quality,” she tells us. “It has a luxurious touch and we get a lot of compliments on it.”
Nanushka has become a favourite among influencers and fashion editors alike, with many of the label's vegan-leather pieces remaining its most popular styles. The brand is a great example of the potential of using vegan-leather alternatives without compromising on style.
That being said, some designers do see a drawback in the quality of vegan leather for certain products, leading them to use a mix of real and vegan, including London Fashion Week favourite, Rejina Pyo, who uses faux leather for trousers and jackets, but tends to opt for the real thing when it comes to accessories.
“When making shoes or bags, we often use leather because it looks great, feels comfortable and most importantly it’s durable,” Renee Cuoco, the label's managing director explains. “It wears well over a long period of time.”
Part of the reason for this is attached to how the consumers view vegan leather.
“I think for customers there is also still a perception of value attached to leather, and perhaps are more likely to keep and covet leather products over synthetic alternatives.
“We’re careful about using the term vegan leather as it can be a bit misleading. Veganism is a commitment to not use any animal-derived material or ingredient, so it makes sense that the term vegan leather is only used by brands who have made the commitment to being 100 per cent vegan.”
Other brands are also turning to animal alternatives. Although not vegan, luxury fashion designers such as John Galliano, Prada, Christian Dior, and Louis Vuitton have all sourced fish skin from Atlantic Leather for collections in a bid to lessen the pressure of real leathers. Pineapple leather is used by brands including Hugo Boss on a range of shoes, as well as in H&M’s Conscious Exclusive collection – the label also plans to use wine leather in its next Conscious drop. Apple, mushroom, corn and mango are all other animal substitutes used that aren’t manufactured with the same toxic chemicals used in leather tanning, Peta tells us.
Is vegan leather more sustainable than real leather?
When assessing the sustainability credentials of vegan leather, we need to look at its raw properties and how its made – not all vegan leather is created equal.
As we've stated, some vegan leather is made from plant-based materials, while others are created from artificial products. Nanushka, for example, uses vegan leather that’s polyurethane-based, which is a plastic material. The inclusion of these artificial products can be where sustainability issues arise.
“It’s not without environmental concerns,” Sandor says. “However there’s reasonable ground to state that the environmental impact of producing vegan leather is lower than real leather.”
The Environmental Profit & Loss, a sustainability report developed in 2018 by Kering, agrees with Sandor's claim, stating that the impact of vegan-leather production can be up to a third lower than real leather.
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