Vegan Leather

[Catherine]

Since people are starting to reject the products of animal cruelty and there is a strong shift towards a Vegan lifestyle more and more products will be available that are vegan.

Leather is very useful but there are lots of reasons to reject animal leather. If we can find a good non animal source alternative to leather it will benefit everyone.

There are synthetic alternatives.
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-vegan-leather.htm

I don't favour synthetic leather. I think we also need to limit our use of petroleum products.

There are now eco friendly plant based alternatives.
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&e...87A-3WaTzw

http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressr...ustry.html


This is the product that I have the most hope for.  The leaves of the pineapples are waste products of the pineapple food industry. Turning them into a useable leather alternative is a win-win solution for the whole planet.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014...lternative


https://collectively.org/en/article/can-...ineapples/


I think the product is beautiful and sustainable. It is early in its production, but some day it could shut down the whole leather industry.


I am looking forward to the day when these products become available. I think it will be soon because there is a market for them.

[Ruth]

I would go for an alternative to leather and the pineapple sounds like a good one.

[Tobi]

What a brilliant idea, to turn pineapple waste products into leather! I had not heard of this before! It's amazing what we can do when we use creative thinking.

Animal leather -for me -is totally abhorrent. Once, I used to imagine it was simply the skins of cows and pigs which had been killed for meat anyway (as if that isn't bad enough!) But nowadays I understand that if you buy leather goods, it is possible you could be buying the skins of dogs and cats skinned alive in the far East. I never want to have anything to do with animal leather -ever again!

[Catherine]

I think the pineapple leather sounds brilliant. It is now a matter of expanding production and finding ways to export it. I think there is a market for it. I think a lot of people would prefer a plant based leather product.

Some of the other ideas have promise. If they work at it I am sure other alternatives will be found.
We could end the animal leather industry completely. There are good alternatives.

I look forward to seeing these products on the market.

[Tobi]

What we need now is for someone to come up with an eco-friendly chemical solution to make the plant-based leather more pliable, and the stitching hold. I am hoping funding and resources will be found for them to develop this idea further. That of course, depends on the level of priority it is given! It is possible priority level could be enhanced by public opinion, surveys etc....

Then we need fashion designers to come into the picture, and support this. I can imagine someone like Stella McCartney being a supporter.

[Catherine]

Maybe a big name fashion designer could produce an animal friendly line of clothing. If the stars can be animal friendly why can't the people who design their clothes be animal friendly.

I think they will solve the different problems with the vegan leathers. I think the pineapple leather is basically ready to be used in manufacturing. Now they need to find businesses ready to invest.

Once it becomes available I hope people make the kinder choice to buy the products.