We love leather bags as much as the next person, but sometimes, you have to stop and wonder just how much a leather bag impacts the environment.
According to studies, about 80% of the world’s leather production uses chrome as a dying agent, and this toxic substance is often dumped into waterways that are then inadvertently fed back into our systems.
While most hides are a by-product of slaughtering animals for food, rarer skins like croc skin and snakeskin mean that the animal is killed purely for fashion’s sake.
On top of being harmful to the environment and cruel to animals, the business of making leather bags are also harmful to the leather workers.
In stopping animal carcasses from decomposing, highly toxic chemicals are used to preserve them, and exposure to these chemicals only serve to harm the workers.
With all that in mind, we were happy to learn of vegan leather a while back. This animal-friendly product uses less water to produce, and there are a multitude of ingredients that go into producing it.
From recycled plastic to “leather” made from mushrooms, vegan leather bags are increasingly popular thanks to their smaller environmental footprint and affordability.
Plus, thanks to innovative treatments and techniques, you can barely tell the difference between vegan and animal leather, and vegan leather is also proven to be just as durable as hide.
And these are all things that we can get on board with.
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