Is leather more sustainable than manmade alternatives?
Amid all the confusion about how to calculate the sustainability of different materials, we need to put the record straight: Leather is more sustainable than manmade alternatives.
US hides have been valued at less than 2% of a cow’s total value for the last two years, which is why they are considered a by-product and often end up as waste.
300 million hides come from the meat and dairy industries around the world each year. Around 33million are processed the US, but as many as 4.8million US hides ended up as landfill in 2020 – that’s 15% of the national total.
Worldwide the waste figure is approximately 40% or 120million hides. With the average hide weighing 25Kg this means that 3million tonnes are thrown away ever year.
Leather production turns more than 4.5million tonnes of potential waste, every year, into usable, durable goods. This saves 2.7m tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from landfill sites.
Leather IS a by-product. And the more we use, the more waste we save.
Amid all the confusion about how to calculate the sustainability of different materials, we need to put the record straight: Leather is more sustainable than manmade alternatives.
Jessie Western is a brand with values we can really get behind. Their pledge? Minimal waste and no plastic.
How can you make the coolest movie stars even cooler? Just put them in leather. Here’s some of our favourite famous leather looks in the history of cinema.
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