It is time to give up animal leather. Did you know that every year, the global leather industry slaughters more than a billion animals and tans their skins and hides? That the economic success of slaughterhouses and dairy farms is directly linked to the sale of leather goods?
If you wear leather, unfortunately, you are supporting this same industry.
Most leather sold in the U.S. is made from the skins of cattle and calves, but leather is also made from sheep, lambs, goats, pigs, zebras, bison, kangaroos, elephants, crocodiles, alligators, ostriches, lizards, and snakes. Take alligators as an example, even though they can live up to 60 years, farmed alligators are usually butchered before the age of 2, as soon as they reach 4 to 6 feet in length. Unfortunately, the abusive treatment of animals reared for leather is very well documented.
And animal cruelty aside... Leather is really, (like) really bad for the environment. Even though Leather-makers like to label their products as “eco-friendly,” the process of tanning actually stops the leather from biodegrading.
Here are some other reasons why you should consider giving up leather:
- Animals are treated very unethically. For instance, kangaroos are often decapitated or hit sharply on the head “to destroy their brain."
- Some leather is made from dogs and cats. As we all know, a big portion of our fashion industry's manufacturing lives in China where 2 million cats and dogs are killed for their meat and skin every year.
- Often leather is not a "by-product" of the meat industry. Many of the animals killed in countries like India, China, Brazil (and many other countries) are killed expressly for their skins.
- Leather is no friend to the environment. Its production has a devastating impact on the environment as transforming skin into leather requires massive amounts of energy and dangerous chemicals. In general, the animal agriculture for food industry is horrible for the environment — methane and carbon emissions, energy and water use, rainforest destruction and fossil fuels.
- Unsafe working conditions. Workers, including children, have been documented soaking hides in toxic chemicals and using knives to cut the animals' skin.
So yeah, wearing leather = wearing chemicals. Owning a piece of clothing or an accessory that comes at the cost of animal suffering just isn't a good look for anyone. The true luxury is being able to just opt out and say yes to a cruelty-free lifestyle and closet.
If you are ready for an upgrade, take a look at our natural cork collection. Cork is one the best plant-based vegan leather available in the market and, at Tiradia Cork, we take sustainability very seriously.
Shop our consciously designed and ethically handmade collection at www.tiradia.com and don't forget to give us a follow on social media, @tiradia_com.