Re:what do vegetarians think of recycled, regenerated leather recuped f

[Guest guest]

Sorry. NO leather for me.

 

And, heres' a (LONG) great article on why synthetics are good form

Herbivore Magazine:

 

Footwear Smackdown: Leather vs. Synthetics

By Lindsey Packer

 

I went vegetarian when I was in college. I majored in

fashion design, so I was learning about textiles

(including animal skins and their alternatives) while

I was in search of animal-free shoes that a) looked

good and b) wouldn't fall apart.

 

If you're reading this, you've probably conducted the

same search at least once. Like me, you've probably

heard every story in the book about vegan footwear.

But, how to separate fact from fiction?

 

I have put in well over 100 hours of my own research

on the subject, poring over boring textiles textbooks,

ruthlessly attacking samples of faux leather and

(pregan) real leather with everything from boiling

water to razor blades, and subjecting one pair of

vegan Doc Martens to five solid years of rough wear.

Like most people who grew up wearing animal skins, I

wasn't sure it was even possible for the perfect faux

leather (comfortable, durable, nice-looking, more

Earth-friendly than animal skin) to exist. I must

admit my findings surprised me at first.

 

Round 1: Durability

Leather and suede scratch and scuff with relative

ease. They are also prone to splitting, cracking, and

tearing (on a personal note, the leather interior in

my old car was torn in about 10 places and badly

cracked almost everywhere by the time it was traded

in, despite preventive care.) Leather and suede can

also be damaged by mildew.

 

Good-quality faux leather does not share these

problems (I have tested every variety I can find), and

lasts as long as leather—sometimes longer. However,

watch out for the cheap stuff; like pantyhose, most of

it is meant to fall apart so you'll buy more in the

long run.

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Round 2: " Breathability " and Waterproofing

Many leather fanatics claim synthetics do not breathe

or aren't waterproof. Not only are leather and suede

not inherently water-resistant, they lose some to all

of their " breathability " when waterproofed or given a

patent finish.

 

Some of the better faux leathers (i.e. the " Vegetan

Microfiber " used by Vegetarian Shoes) are both

waterproof and breathable. Bonus: unlike the cheap

vinyls of yesteryear, they are flexible enough to let

the wearer move comfortably.

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Round 3: Cleaning and Care

Leather and suede generally require expensive cleaning

performed by an expert dry cleaner. I have yet to find

a faux leather that couldn't be cleaned with a damp

rag; if absolutely filthy, maybe a little Simple Green

or Dr. Bronner's. Some, like Lorica, can even be

machine-washed. (Side note: my uncle accidentally ran

his PVC wallet through a hot washing machine cycle.

Unlike its leather predecessor, it's still in

near-mint condition.)

 

Keeping leather items soft and supple generally

requires periodic treatments with oils, creams, and

polishes as skin needs moisture. Not only are many of

these products totally not vegan—mink oil, eeew!—this

is an unnecessary step with faux leather (though

Vegetarian Shoes does make nice vegan shoe polish if

you like your boots to shine).

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Rounds 4-7: Environmental Effects and Consumption of

Resources

We all know that raising a large farmed animal to

slaughtering size uses a surprising amount of

resources: animal feed, thousands of gallons of water,

medications/hormones/other drugs, and all the

petroleum used in getting the drugs and feed to the

farm, getting the animals to the slaughterhouse, and

then moving the skins to the tannery. If more of the

human population switched to synthetic materials

rather than further subsidizing the meat and dairy

industries, do I really need to remind anyone that a

cow's hide accounts for half of its post-mortem

value?—fewer raw materials would be used in the long

run.

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Leather requires more energy, more space, and a great

deal more labor than synthetic fabrics. For example,

the staking process: Staking machines stretch and flex

tanned leather; put simply, " chewing " the skin to make

it soft enough to wear. This is unnecessary with

synthetics.

 

Even thick fake leather can be machine-sewn in most

cases; many leather garments must be partially or

entirely sewn by hand. I seem to recall a story about

a mitered leather coat costing $9,000 because it

required 120 hours of hand stitching. At the risk of

stating the obvious it is more efficient to run a

sewing machine and light a workroom for a few hours

than to just light the workroom for 15 8-hour days).

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Leather must be treated with chemicals to keep it from

rotting and, if desired, to give it certain finishes

or colors. The skin goes through multiple cleanings,

including removing the hair, which requires the use of

alkaline chemicals or enzymes. Chrome tanning has been

the norm for decades because it can be accomplished in

mere hours (vegetable tanning takes several weeks;

many tanneries won't do it). The preserving chemicals,

often called " mordants, " are better known for their

association with the funeral industry. In fact, that

" new leather " smell isn't a leather smell at all. If

it were, living cows would smell like it. The

distinctive odor is produced by the chemical reaction

of the animal's skin with formaldehyde and chromium

salts (which is why it tends to fade over time).

Chlorine use in materials like PVC (polyvinyl

chloride) can be reduced by adding more hydrogen to

the compounds. Synthetic fiber manufacturing accounts

for only 1% of petroleum used (and only half of that

is the actual raw material); 95% of the world's

petroleum is used for fuel (as previously noted, the

leather industry directly and indirectly uses large

quantities of petrochemicals). It's likely that more

chemicals are used to make one pair of leather shoes

than would be used in one pair of synthetic shoes.

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

The aforementioned vegetable-tanned leather, out of

favor for so long, has had a slight resurgence in

popularity lately because of the belief that it is

less harmful to the environment. However, those in

attendance at the first-ever World Shoes Accessories

ecoEthics Conference, held this February in Las Vegas,

heard Bill Bartholomew, a representative for The

Leather Group, admit that " eco-friendly " vegetable

tanning is actually just as polluting as chrome tint!

Case in point: long before chrome tint existed,

tanners on Florence, Italy's Ponte Vecchio are said to

have turned the Arno River into a stinky mess.

 

Synthetics 1, " Vegetable Tanned " Leather 0.

 

Round 8: Biodegradability

Leather does not biodegrade due to the chemical

preserving. Very old leather can crack, chip, and

otherwise appear to start decomposing, but this is

just damage, not actual rotting.

 

Some faux leathers are at least partly biodegradable.

The faux leather that Blackspot—Adbusters Media

Foundation's indie shoe label—uses for its V1 sneaker

and V2 boot is 70% biodegradable. Some faux leathers

are cotton with a vinyl or polyurethane coating.

Although not ideal, at least the cotton can still

decompose.

 

There reportedly is a 100% biodegradable vegan leather

in existence, but vegan shoe manufacturers have not

been quick to embrace this material because the only

factory that currently makes it is located in Vietnam

and factories in Southeast Asia are still notoriously

hard to monitor for fair labor practices.

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Round 9: Effects upon Human Health There has been some

debate about PVC and polyurethane manufacturing

causing an increased risk of cancer. Even if this is

so, tannery employees and men living near tanneries

still have a higher risk of testicular cancer than men

working or living elsewhere.

 

Both leather and synthetics can cause allergic

reactions in very sensitive people. Interestingly,

some of said sufferers are allergic to both materials!

 

While synthetics are not necessarily better in this

area, they are certainly no worse.

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Round 10: What the Hell Is This Stuff, Anyway?

As a vegan retailer, I hear this question almost every

day. No, it's not plastic (if you have been referring

to faux leather with the " p " word, PLEASE stop). Faux

leather is commonly made of a carbon, hydrogen, and

nitrogen compound. (The next time someone derisively

refers to your shoes as " plastic " , you can now scoff,

sneer, and truthfully inform them that they're

carbon-based … kind of like dumb humans. Ha!)

 

By contrast, leather is made from pretty much any

living being that ever had skin. I have seen shoes and

purses made from alligators, kangaroos, snakes, pigs,

emus, horses, fish skin, lamb fetuses … the list goes

on. While most leather is cow or pig skin, leather

suppliers in China have stooped to skinning stray dogs

to meet quotas. As last winter's Sean John dog fur

fiasco proved, labels can lie. Leather wearers like to

think they know the species of the animal who died for

their shoes, but unless they have had a DNA test

performed on the skin, this is not necessarily the

case.

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Bonus Round: Appearance

Even with careful wear and lots of conditioning, most

old leather does eventually start to show its age

(experience taught me long ago that even buttery

designer leather shoes can only take so much). Dark

leather (a.k.a the ubiquitous black and brown) shows

scuffing, scratching, and aging to a greater extent

than light-colored leather.

 

While cheap fake leather can start to look worn out

pretty fast (though on occasion the cheap stuff just

might shock you by lasting forever), decent fakes look

pretty much the same for years (I have found this to

be especially true with PVC). Good faux leather so

successfully mimics animal skin that most people

cannot distinguish it from " the real thing " without

reading the label (in Italy's street markets, Lorica

and other fakes are routinely passed off as leather),

and now, in 2007, we can easily—gasp!—CHOOSE between

textures and finishes. Antiqued, patent, pebble, fake

snake, basic matte, faux pony, mock croc—it's all out

there. Anyone doubting this is welcome to tour my

closet—by appointment, of course.

 

Synthetics 1, Leather 0.

 

Final Score: Synthetics 11, Leather 0.

 

I did not learn any of this from the animal rights

movement. I learned it in fashion school—a strange

world where silk scarf painting was a required

assignment and my Tailoring instructor gave me the

weirdest look for using linen instead of wool.

 

Most of my information on the production and impact of

faux leather came from one particular textbook, Fabric

Reference. The book's author, Mary Humphries, included

a somewhat dismissive remark about animal rights

activists in the introduction to the extensive fur

chapter (feel your skin crawl here), so I am quite

convinced she was in no way biased in favor of living

beings when she included the good points of synthetics.

 

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