By Aravind Balasubramanya,
Festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi are about the corner. And about the corner from there are Eid and Diwali. What greater excuse than the festive season to let out the shopper in you and love some pandemic-free of charge normalcy return to life? While there is no denying that there is a lot of ‘pent-up’ celebration waiting to burst out, it is also correct that we have develop into more conscious, sustainable and green in our consumption, specifically with regards to style and luxury.
Leather is one of the mainstays in the luxury enterprise and it has been subjected to fantastic scrutiny and criticism for getting unsustainable and callous.
Leather and Sustainability
Leather and sustainability seem to be opposites only if one’s view is skin-deep. For instance, at the surface, the lion and tiger are viewed as magnificent animals although the hyena and vulture are viewed as ‘dirty’ creatures. That does not modify the truth that the lion and tiger are nature’s killers although the hyena and vulture are nature’s cleaners. Reality is clouded by perception. That is what has impacted the leather sector also.
Let me clarify that I am not speaking about exotic skins right here. Killing an animal for its skin undoubtedly dirties the leather sector. However, generating use of discarded skins and hides of the meat-processing and/or milk sector solves the dilemma of disposal for the world. The cow-leather-utilizing industries develop into victims of the ammunition meant to be directed on the meat and exotic leather industries.
There is the argument of the ‘cradle-to-gate’ environmental influence of distinctive components which appears to lend credence to the harm completed by the leather sector. The detailed findings from ‘most damaging’ to ‘least damaging’ are in the order – cow leather, silk, cotton, wool, synthetic leather, nylon, rayon, acrylic, spandex, polyester and polypropylene. Though it appears like a extensive argument, it is, once again, skin-deep at very best and misleading at worst.
On one hand, polypropylene, a plastic that requires at least 450 years to decompose, is depicted as ‘least negative impact’! Going by this, it is greater to use plastic more than cotton, leather, wool, silk, rayon and nylon. Since plastics are very easily and economically developed, the world’s challenges should really have been solved by now, correct? It is a recognized truth that plastics have devastating eco-toxicity. However, the study above has assigned the very same ecotoxicity values for all components justifying it with a disclaimer that the scoring is only qualitative as the methodology is not mature mainly because information-collection is ongoing. Who is getting kidded right here?
On the other hand, accusations getting leveled against leather as the greatest criminal are, in truth, impacts from the ‘milk and beef’ sector. Whether it is eutrophication, international warming or water scarcity, these take place primarily when the animal is reared for dairy and meat.
Alternatives to leather?
Once we right the faulty assumptions of the cradle-to-gate argument, leather comes down many notches in its adverse environmental influence. Silk, cotton and wool, the other organic components, all figure larger in their adverse influence. In truth, the drying of the Aral Sea due to intensive water usage for cotton cultivation is a dramatic story highlighting the disastrous consequences of utilizing what is frequently viewed as as ‘safe’ and ‘natural’ options. There is also the point of cotton’s longevity.
The argument of ‘faux’ leather and ‘vegan’ leather is also frequently brought up. But vegan or faux does not necessarily imply ecologically sustainable right here mainly because in most circumstances, they are synthetic fabrics that are structured and printed to be leather-like. Usually, it is a PVC (polyvinyl chloride) or PU (polyurethane) coating – a plastic mimicking the organic skin. Thus, vegan leather carries all the adverse influence of synthetics and plastics derived from fossil-fuels.
The way ahead is sustainability
It would be foolish to recommend that one should really totally give up cotton or silk or, for that matter, even leather. The way ahead would be to improve the sustainability quotient of the components we use. That calls for sustainable style exactly where we do not discard clothing, bags or accessories soon after a season or year mainly because they are out of style. As designers, producers and marketers, let’s move towards utilizing merchandise that are timeless in their high-quality, style and appeal.
[The author is Content & Digital Marketing Manager at Aranyani. Views expressed are personal and the author’s own]