“Vegan” seems to be the new “organic”. Everything must now be available in a vegan version. Even if – as with leather – this is like squaring the circle.
To clarify the term, Wikipedia says: “People who live vegan either avoid at least all food of animal origin or the use of animals and animal products altogether. Ethically motivated vegans usually also make sure that clothing and other everyday items are free of animal products and animal testing.”[1]
Leather is an animal product per se. I don’t quite understand why a person who lives according to vegan ethics would feel the need to dress in an animal product that must not be of animal origin under any circumstances. For me personally, this would be an irresolvable contradiction and I would – if I were a vegan – completely renounce the use of leather.
Fortunately I am not, because then I would have to give up my profession immediately 😉
But now there are resourceful business people who nevertheless see a market here and sell something called “vegan leather”. Let’s take a closer look at what’s behind it:
Vegan leather: squaring the circle
“Vegan leather” is of course not leather. Otherwise it would be of animal origin. It is therefore faux leather. It certainly has its raison d’être. Unlike real leather, it can be washed in the machine without any problems. It is inexpensive and it looks chic.
However, I find the labelling as “vegan” difficult for environmental reasons; the substitutes usually consist entirely or partly of plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyurethane (PU), including a quantity of plasticisers needed to achieve the properties of use.[3] The use of plastics does not do the environment any favours. Just as with the tanning of leather, the production of plastics from petroleum products also involves the use of toxic chemicals, and the material residues pollute the environment for decades or even centuries after use until they are completely degraded.
I doubt that this even comes close to the original idea of a sustainable lifestyle. As a consequence, artificial leather per se is not “vegan” and the term “vegan” is nothing but marketing bells. Incidentally, the term “vegan leather” is not even permissible because of the standards for the labelling of leather and leather products, and can therefore be taken to court.[2]
Sources (german):
1) Wikipedia – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganismus
2) Leder-Info.de – http://www.leder-info.de/index.php/Veganes_Leder
3) Wikipedia – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunstleder.
