Nikki Gustaffson writes on LinkedIn that buying vegan ‘leather’ is not an environmentally friendly option… which is an uncomfortable reality. It’s just cheap plastic at a premium.

Producers used the word “vegan” to their advantage to guilt people into thinking that purchasing their product is an “ethically minded” and “environmentally conscious” decision.

But they aren’t making the environment better at all.

Faux leathers consist of a knitted polyester base with a PVC or polyurethane coating and are also usually manufactured from fossil fuels and take a long time to break down once they reach the end of their useful life (which is a LOT shorter than leather products, since leather looks better with age).

Additionally, leather products are biodegradable whereas PVC takes significantly longer to break down in the landfill.

You go from one industry which is traditionally based on skins that come from the meat industry to another industry that’s heavily dependent on petrochemicals damaging the future of this planet.

This doesn’t mean eating green is useless, on the contrary, it’s a great idea for the well-being of humans…. but buying vegan ‘leather’ certainly is an ineffective way to apply vegan ethics to your life.