Image: Samuel Zeller on Unsplash
You could grow yourself a stylish leather jacket the next time you make yourself a big batch of kombucha. And by big, I’m talking about 30 gallons brewed in your bathtub. Suzanne Lee explains in her TED talk the process of growing your own vegan leather - a 17-year old Australian student was even able to follow homemade tips to culture and cut out a leather jacket that won her admission to the London College of Fashion.
There are already plenty of faux leather products you can buy out there without wasting a good kombucha however. Patagonia has been making vegan leather shoes for almost a decade. So why is this innovation so groundbreaking?
Patagonia’s vegan products include shoes, jackets, and other outdoor gear. Image: Patagonia
Vegan leather products emerged a few decades ago as an alternative for those wanting to avoid animal products and make cruelty-free fashion choices. What is now coming to light more than before is the environmental impact of leather and even vegan leather products. Joshua Katcher gives a comprehensive overview of what makes leather the most unsustainable material around - just a few important points are included here to give an idea of the urgency of ditching leather altogether:
- 85% of leather from deforested areas are in fact sold in markets (E.U. and U.S.) that have high demand for “deforestation-free” products
- Leather is not a by-product; in fact, it’s more profitable than meat, and better thought of as a co-product. 2 billion animals are killed for leather every year.
- 2.2 billion tons of tanning chemicals (equivalent to the weight of the entire human population) enter waterways and threaten vulnerable communities who live nearby tanneries.