Vegan Leather - Is The Environmental Leather Alternative as Sustainable as it Seems?

Animal Leather is one of the oldest fabrics on the block, worn by everyone from our caveman ancestors to our Royal family. It’s loved for its durability and resilience, and cherished for its luxurious texture and timeless style.

However, its production comes with a pretty hefty environmental toll, stemming from resource-intensive livestock farming and energy-consuming tanning processes.

With shopping at an all-time high, and vegan alternatives cropping up all over the place boasting their eco credentials, it’s time to explore the alternatives, and work out which ones are best.

What is Vegan Leather?

Vegan leather is an animal-free synthetic material, a substitute for traditional animal leather. Over the last few decades it’s risen in popularity, as awareness grows about sustainable and ethical fashion, and many people see it as a more eco-friendly option than leather.

The term “vegan leather” actually refers to a pretty wide variety of leather-like fabrics made in many different ways. From pineapples to car tyres, science is very much pushing the boundaries of what’s possible when it comes to making fabrics that look and feel like leather.

Some of these vegan alternatives are great solutions from an environmental point of view, and others have an impact on the planet that is not so positive.

Types of Vegan Leather to Look Out For  

Over the years brands have used a lot of different terms to talk about leather alternatives, and there are some that are a lot more environmentally friendly than others. Avoid greenwashing, and get to know your faux leather from your bonded leather so you know exactly what you’re buying.

• Faux Vegan Leather: Also known as synthetic leather, faux leather is entirely man-made from materials like plastic or polyurethane. Brands tend to use it as a cheaper alternative, but unfortunately it’s not an eco-friendly solution, and can be very tricky to decompose.
• Vegan Leather: This is a pretty broad term which encompasses any and every cruelty-free material used as an alternative to leather. Vegan leather can be synthetic or plant-based, so it’s important to ask questions when you see the term. Often brands will market faux leather as a “vegan alternative,” which makes it sounds environmentally friendly, but the impact it has on the planet is worse than standard leather.
• Leatherette: Similar to faux leather, leatherette is a synthetic material that mimics the look and feel of real leather. Again, much cheaper to produce than real leather, but at the price of being pretty environmentally damaging.
• PVC Vegan Leather: Great for durability, but not quite as good for the planet, PVC is versatile and flexible, but not biodegradable because it’s made from plastic.
• PU: The common shortening of “polyurethane,” this is another plastic-based leather alternative that is best avoided for environmental shoppers. It will break down quicker than leather, leaving you with flaky, plastic clothing that will contribute nasty microplastics to the environment.
• Bonded Vegan Leather: Also sometimes called “reconstituted leather,” bonded leather is made from leather scraps, which are bonded together with adhesives. It’s a lot less durable than actual leather, and will tend to deteriorate at a much quicker rate. Because the leather is bonded with synthetic materials, it’s also challenging to break down. And because it uses real leather, it’s not animal-free.

Is Vegan Leather More Sustainable?

It’s very hard to say whether vegan leather is a more environmentally friendly option than traditional leather, because there are so many different ways of making it.

Depending on the components used to make vegan leather, it can be more or less sustainable than traditional cow leather. Cow leather often uses harsh chemicals, and a lot of labour intensive processes, which means a high environmental impact.

Most plastic vegan leather alternatives are made with a high percentage of chloride which is a toxic chemical. Plastic-based fabrics boast the advantage of being “vegan friendly,” but aren’t so environmentally friendly, so it’s a good idea to read the fine print.

Even the vegan leathers that use biodegradable plant-based plastics often need very specific conditions to actually break down, and often-times end up in landfill instead.

The Best Vegan Leather Alternatives 

The good news is that there are lots of great alternatives to plastic-based vegan leather. Recycled rubber, waxed cotton, cork, and even fruit waste like pineapple leaves and apple peels all get an honourable mention for their eco-credentials.

Recycled Rubber - Did you know you can make a leather alternative out of recycled car tyres? There’s tons of them around, so this is a good solution that combats the waste, while minimising the need for new leather to be created. You can find bags, shoes and accessories made from recycled rubber.

Waxed Cotton - Another eco-friendly alternative, adding wax to cotton makes it more durable, and water resistant, providing an alternative that should be able to break down naturally. Again, the sustainable credentials can differ, as some cotton tends to be more labour and water intensive than others. Waxed cotton that uses eco or recycled cotton is best.

Cork Leather - Cork is another good alternative to leather, especially when it comes to lightweight bags and accessories. It doesn’t look that similar to animal leather (it looks a lot more like cork, surprise, surprise), but can be made without harming the cork trees, so is viewed as one of the best sustainable options to real leather you can get.

Fruit Waste Leather - We bet you didn’t know your kitchen scraps could become a leather alternative! Apples, mangos and pineapples have all been used to create leather alternatives that not only combat food waste, but also look incredibly similar to leather. 

Some plant based leathers use PU to bond the fruit fibres together, so the fabric is more durable, which means it’s not quite so environmentally friendly, but it’s still a good vegan alternative.

How Long Does Vegan Leather Last?

Because there are so many different kinds of vegan leather, it’s difficult to put a time frame on how long your vegan leather product is going to last. In general, plastic-based vegan leather or natural alternatives tend to break down quicker than animal leather, but they are also less likely to crack, peel or fade in the sun, so if you’re a stickler for something that looks fresh as new, they could be a good choice.

Caring for vegan leather can also be easier than animal leather, as the natural skins will absorb oils easily and can change colour over time.

In conclusion, there are some great eco alternative vegan leathers out there for anyone who’s looking to avoid animal products. However the majority of the stuff on the highstreet is made from harmful plastics, which still have an environmental impact that could be worse than traditional animal-based leather.