Lydia Howard, designer and footwear consultant, writes on LinkedIn: I want to talk about Leather:

I’m always looking to expand my knowledge on certain topics regarding footwear development, so I might offer deeper insight into the industry and make responsible decisions for my clients.

One of these topics is leather. Leather is one of those areas where ‘the more you learn the less you know’.

It’s no secret I’m a fan of leather. It’s my preferred material to work with, but I find the industry slow to defend itself when criticised by brands and lacking in transparency when choosing sustainability.

This is mainly due to the nature of how we obtain leather, there are many different suppliers required to produce the final item.

I’ve recently attended Webinars by SATRA and had a fascinating chat with Katie Kutskill from Is It Leather? Each conversation highlighted that leather is the most sustainable resource to use, otherwise it’s waste.

So why are we investing so much into new bio or veg derived synthetics to replace leather when we can invest in the improvement of leather production?