AIBU but is Vegan Leather a con?

[Lincslady53]

We are looking a what our next car will be, and on looking at review videos on youtube a number of new cars have the option of 'vegan leather' upholstery. I google what this material is. Answer. POLYURETHANE! So instead of covering the seats in a natural, biodegradable product, it is a man made, from oil, that will break down into micro plastics, and take forever to totally degrade. AIBU to think that marketing companies take the public for fools?

@Devonbabs

It's still not leather though as leather by very definition is animal skin. They need to call it something else not leather. As I say, I choose to have fabric seats anyway!

Nailed what?

It isn't a con because everyone knows what it is. So you can choose not to have it.

Well - maybe they should say “leather alternative” but I would argue leather should be renamed “skin from abused and butchered animals” if we want to be accurate.

I love the suggestions of cork, leave and apple leather. At his point in time it's BS as not sustainable at an industrial scale.

Besides undergoing a complex process, Cork and leave leather is made from trees that are slow to grow and mature, that's for starters!

Because obviously the rest of the car will breakdown including all its other plastic bits? At least it wasn’t made by the abuse and slaughter of animals.

There are increasing numbers of vegan “leathers” being from sustainable plant sources trying to move away from synthetic fibres. The leather industry still keeps abusing and slaughtering animals though.

I assume that everyone here decrying vegan “leather“ only has organic Natural materials in their homes, and clothes., Because otherwise this thread will have been started to stir up hatred about peoples protected philosophical beliefs. I can’t imagine that happening

Maybe we need to stop using such products on an “industrial scale”. That surely would be the best answer rather than continuing to abuse and slaughter animsls on an industrial scale.

Although you still haven’t answered my previous question

There isn’t more palm oil in plant based food than there is in non-plant based food. Here’s a list of products where the palm oil is used the most, and none of them are specifically plant based foods:

• Cooking. Cooking oil. The most direct and well-known use of palm oil is to make cooking oil. ...
• Baking & Bakery. Bread, Cakes and Pastries. ...
• Beverages. Packaged chocolate drinks. ...
• Snacks. Chocolate. ...
• Frozen. Ice cream. ...
• Household items. Detergent. ...
• Personal Care / Health & Beauty. Toothpaste / Mouthwash. ...
• Children. Infant formula.

What else would it be made of? All mock leather products, that I have come across, are plastic. About half the car will also be made from plastic anyway.

Its pleather..plastic. terrible for the environment

Its pleather..plastic. terrible for the environment

Real leather is a by product of the meat industry. If we stopped using leather, we wouldn't be saving any animals, the same number of cows would be killed for their beef.

Using leather means you are wasting less of the already-slaughtered animal.

They really don’t. Never underestimate stupid!

Total con.

Fair enough! 😆

It’s annoying because you can get vegan leather made from plants now, so they should call it what it is: plastic.

It is a con. I knew it was plastic but stupidly assumed it was plastic that had the qualities of leather, like becoming softer with use and not cracking if looked after, which it definitely does not. It's everywhere now, things like shoes and belts where in the past leather would have been the default, now plastic seems to be the default and you have to seek out leather and there's less choice.

It isn’t all plastic and they are constantly working on creating more environmentally friendly vegan leather. Stella McCartney has created collections of shoes and handbags made from leather created from fruit, for example here: https://www.wallpaper.com/fashion-beauty/how-stella-mccartney-is-using-veuve-clicquot-leftovers-to-create-grape-leather-bags and Karl Lagerfeld with cacti https://www.voguescandinavia.com/articles/the-new-sustainable-materials-to-know. I think rather than bashing these initiatives by saying vegan leather = plastic, we should acknowledge that vegan leather can be sustainable and it isn’t all fake or a scam.

Have you looked at the environmental impact of animal skin leather? You may be surprised to learn it has a worse impact than vegan leather, even if the latter is made of plastic (albeit plastic is obviously not ideal and the move to using recycled materials for vegan leather will reduce some of the issues with that).

Like cars?

No matter the plant used, it's still held together by plastic that will exist for hundreds if not thousands of years. It's shit for the environment and they shouldn't be allowed to greenwash it.

It's not really a con as everyone knows it means something like leather but not leather which will mean some kind of vinyl.

But they are calling it 'vegan leather' as a marketing thing....I can imagine the marketing people saying "Hey, if we say 'vinyl' it's just vinyl, sounds cheap and tacky, but if we say 'vegan leather' it sounds like we are ethical and will appeal to more people".

I find greenwashing for marketing reasons to be dubious and icky, but a lot of marketing things are.

Second hand is always better than new

Couldn’t agree more, and I’m not vegan.

Totally totally totally.

Im SICK of seeing this phrase every where. Its a classic example of bandwagon jumping in order to rip the consumer off

I will NOT buy non leather products, all my shoes are leather and I have 2 leather jackets. I dont buy 'vegan leather' bags either

Hate it. Plastic. Its like the 70s all over again.