Sustainable Fashion｜Can vegan leather be truly environmentally sustainable?

As the technology of man-made fabrics becomes more and more sophisticated, so does the performance of vegan innovative materials. It is seen by many brand companies as an important tool in the promotion of sustainable fashion because of its refined properties that are equal to or even superior to animal-based leathers, as well as its advantages in terms of price.
However, as with anything new, it is always questioned and practised before its true value is realised, and vegan leather is an emerging textile material that is being widely discussed. The focus of the discussion is whether vegan leather can be truly sustainable and environmentally friendly?

In fact, most of the artificial fur, artificial leather and artificial wool and other animal material substitutes, in essence, still belong to the synthetic fibre products, is a kind of plastic. Due to the raw materials are taken from coal, oil and limestone, microplastic shedding occurs frequently, these fabrics are difficult to degrade, as waste incineration will also cause secondary damage to the environment.

So if you don't think about it from a humanitarian point of view, but just on the level of sustainability, animal materials are actually more environmentally friendly. But from an ethical point of view, vegan leather is a matter of animal welfare. Many of today's consumers, especially the younger generation, are concerned about the industrial chain behind leather products and the exploitation of animals, and in the aftermath of the pandemic, the debate on these issues has increased.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘vegan’ is an adjective that means ‘to eat or use food or other products that do not contain ingredients from animals’, so our understanding of vegan leather is based on the word ‘vegan’ as in ‘vegetarian’. So our understanding of vegan leather is based on the ‘vegan’ nature of ‘vegan’, which is a synthetic leather that bypasses animals and has the texture of animal leather.

Vegan leather has the same properties as animal leather.
In an interview with WWD, Collective Fashion Justice board member and author Joshua Katcher said, ‘Vegan leather has defined a variety of materials. It's more of a category than a specific product or method. As early as the 19th century, some London magazines advertised faux leather and promoted it as ‘the humanitarian's alternative’.’
Joshua Katcher, in his book Fashion Animals (2019), notes that vegan leather is typically a material that has the look, texture, and properties of tanned animal leather, and is used primarily in the production of footwear, belts, bags, and other leather goods. Components include polyurethane microfibre suede, mycelium (mushroom roots), leather cultivated by artificial propagation of skin cells, coffee grounds, cactus, pineapple, embossed cork, and more.

Pineapple fibre can be used to make vegan leather
‘These companies making vegan leather are gaining a lot of attention from market capital. I think in the next 5 to 10 years there will be fully biodegradable, plant- and cell-based vegan leathers that will be widely produced and will outperform traditional animal leathers in terms of performance,’ says Joshua Katcher.

Pineapple fibre can be used to make vegan leather
‘These companies making vegan leather are gaining a lot of attention from market capital. I think in the next 5 to 10 years there will be fully biodegradable, plant- and cell-based vegan leathers that will be widely produced and will outperform traditional animal leathers in terms of performance,’ says Joshua Katcher.

In fact, vegan leather is not particularly new in the field of textile materials. Man-made, non-animal leather has evolved to become the material of choice for many low to mid-range leather products, being inexpensive, mass-produced and having a texture very close to that of real leather.
Steven D. Lange, director of the Leather Research Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati, explained to WWD: ‘The vast majority of faux leather materials labelled “vegan” are plastic-based. Even if the manufacturer uses a vegetable base as a raw material, these so-called vegan leathers are just as harmful to the environment because of the binders used.’

Plastic-based vegan leather can also have an environmental impact
Most of the artificial leather on the market today often has a plastic top layer made of polyurethane or polyvinyl chloride attached to a backing made of oil-based nylon, acrylic or polyester fabric. As consumers become more environmentally aware, they are gradually becoming more resistant to this environmentally unfriendly artificial leather. This has led to the popularity of leathers based on plant fibres such as apple, pineapple and cactus, containing a small amount of plastic and cultivated from cells such as mycorrhizal leather.
One of the most promising vegan leather materials is ‘mushroom leather’. It is possible to grow mycelial leather in the form of animal leather through mycelium without the involvement of any animal. Developed in 2018 by US biotech company Bolt Threads, Mylo mycelial leather is now used by brands such as Adidas and Lululemon. The material can be grown and harvested in less than two weeks. It's worth noting that the Mylo mycelium leather is certified biobased, but the plastic-free, non-toxic material is still not biodegradable.
Dan Widmaier, founder and CEO of Bolt Threads, said in a previous interview with WWD: ‘Mylo Mycelium Leather meets the needs of consumers and brands looking to fulfil ESG requirements.

Mylo Mycelium Leather
In March this year, Hermès announced that it would be collaborating with MycoWorks, a Californian mould company, to create a Victoria travel bag in mushroom leather made from ‘mushroom mycelium’.
However, even with the backing of Hermes as the head luxury brand, mycelium leather is still facing the main problem of production capacity can not keep up with demand. And this relative lag also gives more innovative enterprises with a sense of innovation to provide a window of time for expansion and innovation.

Hermès launches Mushroom Leather Victorian Travel Bag made from ‘mushroom mycelium’.
Leather goods start-up Bellroy has this month launched Mirum, a mini sling bag made from a new material, vegan leather, which is made from a slurry of raw materials such as cork, coconut, vegetable oils and natural rubber, does not contain any polyurethane or PVC coatings and is fully biodegradable, with a carbon footprint up to 40 per cent lower than that of traditional leather. In addition to its low-carbon qualities, Mirum uses no water in the manufacturing or dyeing process.

In the fashion world, brand groups such as Stella McCartney, Adidas, Allbirds, Hermès, Gucci, H&M, Karl Lagerfeld, Reformation, Ralph Lauren and Fossil have all ventured into the vegan leather sector, either by investing in it or by launching limited capsule collections. in the vegan leather sector.
According to estimates by Infinitum Global, a Bangalore-based technology solutions company, the global market for synthetic leather will be around $46.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $89.6 billion over the next five years, at a compound annual growth rate of 48.1 per cent.

The next generation of vegan leather substitutes could be worth $2.2 billion annually by 2026, according to a report published in June by non-profit organisation The Material Innovation Initiative. The Ministry of Information Industry and consulting firm North Mountain Consulting Group also pointed out in a study of US consumer habits that more than half of people prefer to buy leather alternatives made from acrylics, polyester, plant fibres or cell culture. The factors that drive these consumers to buy vegan leather are: good for animals, affordable and attractive.

Emma Hakansson, founding director of Collective Fashion Justice, believes that as people begin to realise the associated harm caused by the supply chain of animal-derived materials, they will begin to value the balance between the planet, people and animals. And this will promote the development of vegan leather.

While there is still much room for improvement and innovation, vegan leather has great potential, especially for vegan-conscious consumers. With more and more vegan products and innovative companies joining the vegan leather segment, there will be more vegan leather that has the properties of animal leather but is also in line with the concept of sustainable development. It is worth noting that millions of people worldwide work in the leather goods and footwear industry, producing billions of square feet of leather each year, so increasingly eco-friendly vegan leather will have an increasingly visible and positive impact on the global environment and human life.