Is vegan leather more sustainable than natural leather?

When I am looking out for new sustainable fashion brands, I always try to look out for the fabrics used. Lately, I tried to find leather accessories. I am not a vegan but always prefer vegan leather alternatives. However, even if there are some vegan leather alternatives I am never sure if they would last as long as leather can. Also, most of those vegan fabrics are a blend of 95% natural and 5% synthetic.

I think it is important to first look at the different types of vegan leather, their production, blend and their longevity. Then have a quick look at the leather industry and its impact on the environment. To finally look back at the question: Is vegan leather more sustainable than “normal” leather?

The different types of vegan leather:

According to Eluxe magazine, there are more than 15 different types of vegan leather, some made out of natural plants or fruits, others from trees, some from recycled plastic or tyres. So many materials to play with!!! However, a lot of those are still at the beginning stage and are not mass-produced yet. Another issue that we found is the price. As some of those methods are relatively new the price is quite high but more companies will use it, hence we expect a reduction in price.

Now, we will talk about 3 of our favourites:

Piñatex:

Positive: Made out of the rest of the pineapple harvest, Piñatex does not need extra land, water or pesticide to grow as it is the derived of the already harvest fruit.
Negative: this is not a biodegradable product. Piñatex is a mix of pineapple leaves, bio-plastic and PETROLEUM based resin. This last products raise serious concerns for the environmental aspect.

Apple leather:

Positive: same concept as the Piñatex apple leather is made out of the leftovers of apples. Amazing use of the “waste”! The fabrication does not use petroleum. They are trying to find eco-friendly alternatives for everything. They use Pu has a binding agent (an eco-friendly version of PVC) that they use for their blend.
Negative: We are still searching…

Cork:

Positive: it is vegan, has a unique look and is made out of the natural gift: a tree. For the production they harvest the cork of the tree (without putting it down). It is known to be really resistant and environmentally friendly.
Negative: We are still searching.

“Normal” Leather:

In comparison to those diverse alternatives of leather, the “normal” one is considered not only cruel to the animal but also not eco friendly at all. Made out of cows, who produced a lot of methane, they use also chemicals to tan the leather which are known to harm intensively the environment. The Higg MSI ( Higg Materials Sustainability Index) gives leather an impact of 160-163 ( compared to 98 for cotton).

So after this review, we have to highlights that a lot of companies are trying to develop more and more environmental friendly leather.