Are Leather or Vegan Shoes Better for the Environment?
Let’s get to the sole of it.
The eco-friendly answer is often right in front of our eyes. Why eat imported food when you can opt for produce from the local farmer’s market? Why use plastic bags when you have that reusable tote sitting in your car? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t always so obvious.
On the surface, a pair of vegan shoes might seem like the most eco-friendly option, but what happens when you really delve into it? I compared sustainable leather shoes to vegan footwear, and here are the surprising results.
What Is Vegan Leather?
Manufacturers often make vegan leather shoes using an amalgam of materials. Here are the most common pieces of the puzzle:
- Polyvinyl chloride, a firm plastic otherwise known as PVC
- Phthalates, a chemical that makes stiff PVC pliable
- Polyurethane (PU), or vinyl, that’s used to give fabric a leathery appeal
- Chemical solvents used to liquify vinyl
Vegan leather production is based on these plastic and chemical materials. There are perks to this, including the fact that PVC and vinyl are both versatile and inexpensive. To add to it, they sure have an uncanny leather-like appearance, but they’re not without their faults.
With a chemical-forward makeup and carbon-heavy footprint (no pun intended), there’s no denying the environmental impact of mass-produced vegan leather. Even though vegan leather avoids the animal welfare issues of raising cattle, it doesn’t biodegrade. All in all, it isn’t exactly environmentally friendly.
Behind Stella’s Vegan Leather
Stella McCartney is a popular brand, and they just so happen to be vegetarian. I think they’re making a pretty noble stamp on the industry, especially when so many labels take shortcuts wherever possible. Regardless, Stella still makes their vegan shoes out of a mixture of polyester and vinyl.
Specifically, they use a recycled polyester backing and a coating made of 50% vegetable oil. Most other faux leathers in the market are way worse, but the bulk of Stella’s materials remain chock full of eco concerns. At the end of the day, a pair of lace-up sneakers from the high-end brand come at a steep ecological price — not to mention the dent it’ll put in your wallet.
Are There Alternatives to Traditional Vegan Leather?
Not every veg-oriented fashion brand has a massive carbon footprint. While pricier and harder to find, there are a few eco-conscious alternatives to plastic materials..
- Cork product
- Kelp material
- Pineapple leather
- Mushroom leather
These natural materials are pretty promising, but they don’t yet mimic the softness, durability and scalability of leather. Today, most vegan shoes have plastic components. For the sake of the planet, that’s a fact we can’t ignore.
Leather Brings Lifespan & Comfort
Unless you’re against using any animal products, you might want to choose responsibly tanned leather. A natural byproduct of the meat industry, disposing of an anima’s hide without using it just makes waste. Getting leather from the right sources helps consumers take part in a circular economy, a truly eco-conscious model.
Leather has been so popular for a long time, and we have its lifelong durability to thank. One pair of leather shoes can last upwards of 20 years. When those kicks seem like they’re past their prime, just fix them! With the right conditioning and repair, leather can get better with age — even when the going gets tough.
The best leather brands cater to comfort seekers. Authentic leather lets your feet breathe, eliminating sweat and foot odor. It’s pliable and forms to your foot, which can be a gamechanger for consumers with an orthopedic need. On the flip side, faux leather brings blisters and stinky feet when it doesn’t mold right.
For Leather, the Tannery Matters
Let’s be clear here: just like vegan leather production, the leather industry isn’t 100% innocent. The act of tanning leather requires chromium, salts, formaldehyde and dyes. However, just like vegan shoes, innovative technology is on the horizon to cater to our growing climate awareness.
The tanning industry now has some gnarly efficiencies that help mitigate leather’s environmental impact. Responsible, green-certified tanneries are the way of the future. Eco-friendly tanneries are ditching old-school tanning methods, reducing their use of chromium and using water-based finishing and recycled water. Whatever it takes to keep their impact to a minimum!
Taking Sustainable Shoemaking Seriously
Taking the ethical shoe game seriously means asking the hard questions. Digging into the production process, considering the source of every material you use, questioning manufacturers and recycling resources whenever possible — that’s what BENDY is all about, but this eco-friendly shoe brand is not the only one making shoes that are kinder to the planet.
Allbirds, Reformation, Rothy’s and more make their sustainable motive known. Like my team at BENDY, these brands are playing the long game, considering their environmental footprint in every step of their product cycle.
I’m confident that this shift in perspective will make a big difference for fashion-forward eco-warriors the world over.
Fast Fashion: The Root of the Issue
Whatever side of the leather spectrum you lie on, keep one thing in mind. Fast fashion is a dangerous game, and one that nobody should play.
Fast fashion giants (H&M and Zara included) violate both environmental and social responsibilities. Outerwear brand Canadian Goose traps coyotes for their jacket fur linings. Vegan brand Matt & Nat produces their goods in China factories using PVC and vinyl materials.
The moral of the story is this. We need to do better — for animals, people and the planet as a whole.
Follow Your Morals, One Step at a Time
Rocking a high-quality, ethical is a good feeling. That shoe might be made from vegan leather without the use of animals. It also might be made from real leather from a sustainable tannery.
The leather versus vegan shoe debate really comes down to one thing: your own morals. At BENDY, we’re purveyors of sustainable wear; to us, that’s what matters most. We respect your views — just do the planet a favor by keeping the environment in mind with every step you take.
