
Taiwan Design Competition Winner: Lai Tsui Yu
Meet Lai Tsui Yu this year's Gold Apparel Winner in the 2021 Taiwan Student Design Competition.
Vegan leather, pleather, leatherette – despite their names there is one thing all these materials have in common – they are not leather.
There is no such thing as vegan leather. Leather comes from the hide of an animal. Vegan describes foods and materials that do not come from animals. The two words cannot combine.
The term was coined as a marketing device, drawing on the connection of the word ‘vegan’ with natural, which in most cases for leather alternatives does not ring true. Leather alternatives, including plant-based ones, go through many processes in their production, and most of them are plastic-based and derived from fossil fuel.
Putting aside the misuse of the word ‘leather’… Synthetic or artificial leathers are designed to look like leather, often with texture added to mimic the surface of natural cowhide. They are usually made from oil-derived plastic and coated with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or polyurethane (PU). Other names for synthetic leather include:
There are some materials that are being offered as alternatives to leather that are plant based. Because most of these lack the structural integrity and durability of leather they often rely on plastics as part of the manufacturing process. In fact, most of these materials are more than 50% plastic. The benefit of non-plastic material is that it biodegrades faster; unfortunately, oil-derived plastics or natural products that are impregnated with plastics take hundreds of years to decompose. Leather normally takes no longer than 50 to biodegrade.
Plant-based alternatives include:
In March 2021 the Research Institute for Leather and Synthetic Materials (FILK) conducted research into materials marketed as alternatives to leather, analysing their composition and durability.
Its main conclusion was that “Leather is unique. So far, it has not been possible to replace leather.”
Read more on the FILK report here.
Meet Lai Tsui Yu this year's Gold Apparel Winner in the 2021 Taiwan Student Design Competition.
Designs come to life as students begin creating samples in the final round of the Taiwan Student Design Competition. Watch the video to find out
Todd Sutherland has been shooting still life in the industry for over 15 years. His portfolio boasts an array of luxury clientele from cars, fashion accessories, jewellery and much more. We are excited to welcome him as our new contributing editor!
New columnist Nicola Davies talks us through her five favourite leather buys.