Sustainable Vegan Leather: What Is It & Is It Really Eco-Friendly?

While the ethical credentials of faux leather are pretty obvious (*cough cough*, no animals are killed), its sustainability is not so black and white. Cruelty-free alternatives to leather are better from an animal-welfare perspective, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t cruel to our planet. There’s a lot of nuances involved, and it’s one of the more complex fabrics where the sustainability aspect is just as convoluted.

Let’s slide into some vegan sandals as we stroll towards a more holistic understanding of what sustainable faux vegan leather really is.

It’s (obviously) a vegan fabric, meaning it doesn’t contain animal byproducts. But that tells us what vegan leather is not made of, so now we need to ask: what is vegan leather made of?

The options are practically endless, but there are two umbrellas under which vegan leather fabrics fall:

Plastic-Based Vegan Leather

Unfortunately, most of the vegan leather on the market is either blended with plastic or made entirely of plastic—namely PU and PVC. Both of these types of plastic are commonly used in faux leather but have nearly the same carbon-intensive footprint as the real stuff.

If you can only avoid one, let it be PVC-based microfiber vegan leather. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) releases toxic chemicals during its production phase and requires plasticizers like endocrine-disrupting phthalates to make them flexible enough to get into those pleather leggings.

According to the WHO, PVC (specifically the dioxins present in it) has been linked to all kinds of health problems, like cancer, developmental disorders, infertility, Type II diabetes, heart and liver disease, CNS, and other respiratory disorders.

On the environmental side, there is NO safe way to dispose of PVC. Recycling it requires tons of equally bad chemicals–leading to an abysmal 0.25% recycling rate—and trashing it means they’ll all just leach into the Earth for centuries.

PU, or polyurethane, is still associated with a chemical-intensive production process, but it’s slightly better because it can at least be recycled mechanically (through shredding into small bits) rather than chemically, making it the better choice over PVC.

Plant-Based Vegan Leather

Your best bet is to accessorize with a new vegan handbag with the 3rd P of eco friendly vegan leather: plants.

From fungi to fruit peels, innovative faux leather fabrics use plants and other bio-based materials—though these are sometimes combined with a little plastic for durability and weather resistance. Still, a little is better than a lot.

Before we begin judging the merits of vegan leather, let’s look at the impact of that which it seeks to replace: real leather made from animal skins. Leather is one of the oldest and longest used fabrics throughout history, but its impacts are devastating—and not just for the animals getting turned into that luxury handbag.

Animal Welfare

Leather means dead animals. There’s no way around it. Even upcycled leather, the most sustainable form of leather, was still once a living being. Hence the quotations around “ethical” leather.

You need your skin for survival, and so do the cows, pigs, goats, sheep, crocodiles, and ostriches (to name just a few) that end up being used for the latest fashion trends.

Billions of animals are killed every year for leather fashion accessories and the like, so contrary to common belief, leather is often not a by-product of the meat and dairy industry. Though there are some kinds of animal leather, like fish leather, that came about exclusively to use already existing industry byproducts.

Environmental Impact

Traditional animal leather may be a natural material, but its cradle-to-grave environmental impact is bleak. Animal leather is associated with a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions beginning at the farming level—which is far higher than other animal fabrics like wool and silk.

It contributes to damaged water sources, water scarcity, and has been associated with eutrophication (agricultural runoff that causes nutrient overload in natural bodies of water).

We then have to consider the chemicals required to tan the leather. There are around 250 different chemicals and heavy metals—primarily chromium, arsenic, and cyanide—used in traditional leather tanning, which are linked to increased risks of cancer and other severe health effects.

This natural fiber (which would take hundreds of years to break down even in raw form) is rendered non-biodegradable by the use of chemical treatments.

Social Impact

The tanning process doesn’t happen in a bubble; it needs workers, meaning each and every tannery worker is exposed to those harmful chemicals day in and day out.

From the overt health problems (mainly skin and respiratory diseases) to the fact that many of these people work extended hours without a decent living wage or regulated work environment, the leather industry joins other fashion industries (like diamonds) for their slew of ethical issues.

So, is vegan leather more sustainable than real leather? Yes, but the bar is pretty low, which is why we should instead be asking: how sustainable is vegan leather compared to real leather?

In light of conventional leather standards (or lack thereof), it doesn’t take much to be a better alternative. Off the bat, vegan leather means no animals were harmed, and according to the Higg Materials Sustainability Index, cow leather averages a 10x greater impact than vegan leathers.

Beyond that, however, vegan leather sustainability is determined by what it’s made of.

As previously mentioned, two of the most used faux leather alternatives are PVC or PU plastics. Derived from fossil fuels, these give eco-friendly faux vegan leather a bad name because they are certainly not eco-friendly.

Plus, we know that one of the core tenants to sustainaility is longevity, and one of the downsides to vegan leather is that it’s less durable than its counterpart. If it’s plastic-based, some say it’ll last two to five years on average, though there are reviews that claim longer for items like handbags that see less wear and tear.

Keep in mind that when the vegan leather contains plastic, it’s not biodegradable and will release small plastic particles as it decomposes.

The positive side to using plastic is that, in most cases, it makes it waterproof, which is why it’s found in even sustainable rain jackets (though cork leather is waterproof sans plastic).

Some plant-based vegan leather alternatives will have similar life spans (two to five years) but owe their longevity to a plastic coating that keeps them looking good for longer. Without any plastic, you can expect less durability and a shorter life span. Unfortunately, there’s a tradeoff between plastic-free and durability.

If ethics, durability, and sustainability are of equal importance to you, an upcycled or recycled leather product might be the best bet.

Let’s moo-ve away from cows and plastics to the best sustainable vegan leathers—because while they’re not as prolific, there’s no shortage of options.

Piñatex

If you’ve shopped many vegan shoe brands, you might recognize the name Piñatex. It’s made from pineapple leaves, a normally-wasted byproduct that typically gets burned by the fruit industry. The pineapple fibers have surprising strength and flexibility, and as Piñatex is made from waste, its production requires no additional agricultural inputs or water.

Plus, it provides an additional income stream for the communities involved in pineapple farming.

Unfortunately, it is coated with a petroleum-based material for greater durability, making it non-biodegradable, but they are working to develop a biodegradable resin alternative.

Frutmat

Frutmat, otherwise known as apple leather or Pellemela (in Italy where it’s produced), is similar to Piñatex, but it is made using wasted scraps such as peels and cores from the apple juice industry.

Mirum

Mirum is a high-performance material made from 100% natural inputs and 0% plastic. It takes things like coconut and vegetable oil waste and combines it with cork and hemp waste to make a leather-like product.

Cork

Cork fabric comes from Cork Oak trees, which grow in the Mediterranean (specifically Portugal) via sustainable forestry methods. When cork is harvested through a process of shaving away the bark, it doesn’t harm the tree. Instead, it helps encourage a process of regeneration, which lengthens the tree’s lifespan. On average, each hectare of Cork Oak forest sequesters 14.7 tons of CO₂—making cork perhaps the lowest carbon footprint vegan leather.

The production process is just as green; the cork is simply boiled in water to gain some pliability before being flattened into sheets. Sometimes dyes are added, but otherwise, the process is complete.

Rubber

Recycled rubber leather is another trending fabric, particularly for recycled flip flops. The density and texture end up being very similar to regular rubber, and materials that would typically find their way to a landfill can be used to create bags and accessories.

Since there’s so much surplus leather laying around (hello, TIRES!), there’s pretty much no end to the supply. Being waterproof and designed for high wear-and-tear, it’s also one of the most durable vegan leathers.

MuSkin

MuSkin is made out of the caps of the Phellinus ellipsoideus mushroom, a fungus that attacks trees in the subtopics, so harvesting it helps eliminate invasiveness. It feels like suede, absorbs moisture, limits bacteria proliferation, and is biodegradable—though unfortunately there’s still mush-room for growth in the use of this promising fiber.

Washi

Washi is a Japanese paper traditionally used in arts and crafts, but innovative designers have ventured to make sustainable vegan leather out of it.

SCOBY

SCOBY is short for Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast. If you’re a kombucha flavoring enthusiast, you’ll recognize it as the live culture used to make the fermented tea beverage. Technically speaking, the SCOBY is the liquid bacteria, whereas the mushy blob that most people think is SCOBY is called the pellicle, a byproduct of the fermentation process. If dried flat, it becomes a leather-like material.

Beeswax is sometimes used on the top layer for waterproofing, so keep this in mind as this version may not be 100% vegan.

Cactus

This new-to-the-scene, eco-friendly cactus leather is derived from leaves of nopal cactus which grows abundantly in Mexico and needs virtually no water to thrive. Primary manufactuerer Desserto combines this with recycled polyester and cotton.

It’s also one of the most durable vegan leathers, lasting nearly 10 years.

BIO-VERA™

Modern Meadow’s BIO-VERA™ is engineered to look, feel, and stretch exactly like leather, while being 2x stronger and 25% lighter. It’s also made of 100% upcycled materials.

Tômtex

Similarly, Tômtex is a leather alternative made from combining wasted seafood shells and coffee grounds. We’ve seen something similar before with S.Cafe, a yarn spun from recycled coffee grounds, so a leather-like version isn’t too hard to imagine.

Mylo™

Mylo, by Bolt Threads Technology, is an all-natural vegan leather that’s grown from mycelium (the root structure of mushrooms). Its production has less environmental impact and doesn’t use solvents like dimethylformamide (DMF), which is found in other types of synthetic leather.

As you can see, vegan leather is made from nearly anything and everything, from plants to paper to popular probiotic beverages. Plant-based leathers are superior to plastic ones, but beyond that the most eco-friendly vegan leather is that which already exists and lasts for years to come.

As with all sustainable fabrics, vegan leather’s eco-friendliness largely depends on you, the consumer. Keeping things around and in circulation is arguably the most critical consideration in sustainability, so if you buy a pair of vegan leather shoes that aren’t waterproof, maybe don’t wear them on a day when rain is forecast.

Take care of your vegan leather products through proper cleaning and storage to ensure the materials last as long as possible.