‘vegan leather’: how companies use veganism in greenwashing
If you’ve fallen for ‘vegan leather’ products thinking they’re anything other than regular plastic, as has been present in the fashion industry for decades, you’d be forgiven for having the PU pulled over your eyes.
The new buzzword on the high street, ‘vegan leather’ is a term I’ve seen grow in popularity over the past decade. Vegan leather can be made from cork, cactus, leaf and even apple peels, however, this type of sustainable leather alternative is very rarely used in high street brands due to the expense and expertise needed to produce it. It’s likely you’ll never come across it in a high street store, that’s how specialist it is. Almost all faux leather you see on the high street is actually made of polyurethane (PU) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Because it is plastic and therefore, not a biproduct of an animal, any leather which isn’t real leather technically is, and can be classed as vegan, to the delight of marketing execs everywhere.
As veganism has become steadily more popular, you’ll have noticed the use of the term vegan leather grow in popularity alongside it. Sold at your favourite stores, such as Dr Martens and top green-washer, H&M. But it’s not a new product at all, it’s simply the new and more desirable term for plastic leather, or ‘pleather’ for short. Inspiring a new generation into believing that they are making a more informed, greener and kinder decision. This is by far the case.
PU and PVC collectively are sourced from fossil fuels, the biggest contributor to climate change. With the rise of fast fashion, plastic leather is being made cheaper and cheaper in order to keep up with demand and turn a profit. It’s not just fossil fuels that make vegan leather bad for the environment, often the regulations around how the leather is produced are dodgy at best, and it can be unclear whether the synthetic components used to treat faux leather are completely vegan themselves, therefore it’s impossible to know what we are buying. For these reasons, to name faux leather ‘vegan’ feels deceitful.
We’ve come to associate veganism with something that is better for the environment, but is that really the case? Absolutely not. I can guarantee your faux leather jacket will not last you a lifetime, unlike a real leather jacket, which often only gets better with age, developing a patina. One leather jacket could see you through a decade, easily. It might take about 5 or 6 vegan ones in comparison, and where do those jackets go after you’re done with them? Surprise surprise, they join the millions of other plastic leather jacket rejects in landfill, where they’ll sit for the next 500 years, until they’ll eventually start to dissolve. But that’s a problem for our great, great, great granddaughter, right? Newsflash Busted, she will not be doing ‘pretty fine’.
So what’s the alternative? As always, I turn to the second hand market and breathe a deep sigh of relief. They are quite literally, TONS of long lasting, well made leather goods going around and around the second hand/vintage market. They look much better, fit much better and don’t squeak when you walk either! It’s pretty much a no brainer. I ask you to consider what the real cost is when you buy a vegan leather product, whether your reasoning for buying it is based on vegan beliefs or simply because it is cheaper. When we buy fast fashion faux leather, we contribute to an incredibly detrimental system that effects not only the environment, but people too. Ask yourself, is it worth it?
Love,
Laura x
