Plant-based substitute leather developed from pineapple leaf fiber and rubber
asiaresearchnews.com
asiaresearchnews.com
I (meat-eater) am done with leather alternatives for now. A while back, I bought the official leather-alternative case for my everyday-carry Roav sunglasses, but it didn't last me very long. Frustrated with that, I ordered a custom made case with real leather, that cost me double the price, but it has been aging really nicely.
For me, paying extra for good leather, that will last longer and is byproduct of meat I already eat, seems to be the best decision in terms of sustainability. Hopefully technology will improve so that we have more options in the future.
It’ll be cool if someone even gets close to that with alternatives, especially at a similar price, but I’m not holding my breath.
I get the impression these alternatives are mostly a replacement for bonded “leather” so far, which is such a shit material that they ought to be able to surpass it without trouble.
And yes most alternative leathers are plastic with 10% of something in top so you can call it "apple" leather, "pine apple" leather, ... Or straight up petrol derivates
I'm extremely weary of leather shoewear because I've suffered too many sores in my life, specially when I was a child. I'd like to have comfy shoes that last long but the break in period...
Thanks for the tips though
(Yes, it was private equity)
It was a choice for the restaurant - they are agents in this as well, and may be doing so based on their own values vs. economic forecasts.
Large mammals die all the time, and it would be more wasteful to just burn the leather, rather than use it as a durable material.
Besides, how much livestock is grown and slaughtered specifically for leather? A minute amount, presumably, but I'm willing to be proven wrong in anyone has the data.
I’ve been vegan for more than 15 years, i have no children but that’s an entirely separate debate, forecasts all around the world indicate a slowdown in global birthrates this might seem good at first but is not so much, it means an increase in average age of population which means lower birthrates and less people in the productive age brackets. The earth have enough resources to feed the current population many times over but not its greed, meat is incredibly inefficient as food, only 1% to 4% of the fed calories are converted into food, that without mentioning emissions, water usage, deforestation, soil contamination and the ethical problem of enslaving torturing and killing billions of sentient creatures just for sensory pleasure.
Yes and, I would hope that the majority of leather comes from cattle that are grown and slaughtered for meat. In that case, the amount of cattle put through the meat grinder is a function of both the demand for meat and the demand for leather, but it would be unlikely to be sensitive to both at the same time. I suspect, given that meat has so much turnover whereas leather lasts a long time, that we are meat-bound rather than hide-bound.
There are already plant-based materials out there[1] that are commercialized and in production which pass the stringent durability/performance/etc. criteria for automotive seating and other high-wear applications.
[1] e.g. https://vonholzhausen.com/
Has Feather-Pucker: 0/10
Smells like a dog when wet: 0/10
Sliiightly stretchy but mostly comes back to shape except after 10,000 times: 0/10
will remove bugs from windscreen: 0/10
Do you have experience in this industry or something, or did you just pull this out of your ass?
The only possible impetus for more synthetics is a new product to market towards first world vegans who feel bad.
I also haven't heard the answer to my question– how is this particular alternative to leather, based on rubber and pineapple leaves (and not plastic), particularly bad for the economy or the environment?
Its boiling the planet and directly killing animals through microplastics in the food and water.
In my opinion there is no generally available leather or leather alternative for shoes that are vegan.
Microplastics are bad, but that's indirectly killing animals - not directly. And vegan leather is a silly thing to nitpick over this issue, when there's probably roughly as much plastic in a pair of shoes as in a disposable water bottle you use once.
Because Americans are using intensive methods to extract oil from the ground.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25372
And they are behind other western countries in how they produce energy.
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3
> And vegan leather is a silly thing to nitpick over
It was a phrase that was used and I find it weird. I would not have mentioned it otherwise.
> there's probably roughly as much plastic in a pair of shoes as in a disposable water bottle you use once.
I avoid those too. Metal reusable, and had it for quite a few years now.
You seem very angry that someone doesn't like the phrase "vegan leather" for a product that is shit for the planet.
The murder of an animal is bad.
The death of all living things is also bad. Why do people feel the need to defend shitty plastics?