Leather vs vegan leather: which one is better for the planet?

When you think about making or giving a leather piece, a fair question comes up: is it really good for the environment? What about vegan or plant-based leather?

Vegan leather is often presented as the better option because no animal is involved. Its production can also use fewer resources than cowhide. But “vegan leather” covers very different materials. Some are made from mushrooms or recycled plastics, others from PVC, and their impact is not the same at all.

Vegan leather made of PVC

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is one of the most common materials used for synthetic “vegan” leather. It avoids animal products, but it raises other problems:

• It is plastic. PVC comes from oil, a non-renewable resource, and its production uses a lot of energy, which contributes to air and water pollution.
• It does not biodegrade. Once thrown away, it ends up in landfills or in the ocean, where it can take hundreds of years to break down and may harm wildlife.
• It contains additives. PVC is made flexible with chemicals such as phthalates, which are harmful to health and to the environment, and can leach out over time.

So PVC vegan leather can suit people who want to avoid animal products, but its full life cycle deserves a closer look before calling it the greener option.

When cowhide leather is the better choice

Most cowhide comes from animals raised for the food industry. Using these hides turns a by-product into a durable material, instead of a waste to dispose of.

The biggest difference, though, is lifespan. A piece made of good full-grain leather and properly stitched lasts for decades, sometimes for generations if you take care of it. A synthetic piece that peels after two years has to be replaced, again and again.

Always think before you buy

The environmental impact of any object depends on how it is made, how it is used and how long it lasts. So the first question is simple: do you really need a new one?

If you do, choose something built to last. That is exactly the idea behind making your own: you choose the leather, the thread and the construction, and you know how to repair it.

Vegan leather vs veg-tan leather

The names are close, but they mean opposite things:

• Vegan leather contains no animal product at all, and is often synthetic.
• Veg-tan leather, short for vegetable-tanned leather, is real leather tanned with natural tannins from tree bark and other plants. The process is traditional, slower and uses far fewer harsh chemicals than chrome tanning.

For my own pieces, I use vegetable-tanned leather from hides that are a by-product of the food industry. You can read more about it in why I use Tuscan vegetable-tanned leather.