Ethics and Ethos

1. PROCESS OF EXTRACTING ANIMAL SKIN IS INHUMANE

Every year, over a billion animals are killed for their flesh and skin. Not only do animals need to lose their lives to our desires, but they also endure immense cruelty in slaughterhouses.

Calves & lambs are the biggest victims of this industry. Castrating with irons, separation from parents, peeling off body parts and brutal hitting from iron rods are some examples of the brutal forms of torture. There is plenty of cruel footage and visuals available online for us to witness.

2. LEATHER IS NOT JUST A BY-PRODUCT OF THE MEAT INDUSTRY

The global animal leather industry is worth USD 420 billion today. With skyrocketing demand for leather in recent years, slaughterhouses are increasing exponentially. In addition, the highly premium market for exotic skins has pushed rare breeds closer to extinction.

The truth is that leather is a co-product, rather than a by-product of the meat industry. When the animal flesh is the most valuable part of the animal, it is hardly a ‘waste’ or ‘leftover’. With leather being emblematic of luxury accessories, the escalating consumer demand is empowering this supply.

3. TURNING ANIMAL SKIN INTO LEATHER USES ENORMOUS NUMBER OF RESOURCES.

Animal skin is processed into finished leather by requiring massive amounts of energy and dangerous chemicals including mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and various oils, dyes, and finishes, some of them cyanide-based and chromium; considered hazardous by the EPA.

Tannery effluent contains large amounts of pollutants, such as salt, lime sludge, sulfides, and acids. The process of tanning stabilizes the collagen or protein fibers in skins so that they stop biodegrading—otherwise, the leather would rot right in your closet.

In addition, raising the animals whose skin eventually becomes leather requires vast quantities of water and wide tracts of pastureland, which must be cleared of trees. In fact, in the last half-century, 70% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared to make way for pastures or growing feed crops. This mass deforestation causes habitat loss for millions of species, eliminates the Earth’s tree canopy, and drives climate change. Animal agriculture and its methane- and nitrous oxide–rich products, including leather, are leading contributors to climate change.

Huge amounts of fossil fuels are consumed in livestock production as well, and cow-derived leather has almost three times the negative environmental impact as its synthetic counterparts, including polyurethane (PU) leather.

4. INTELLECTUAL SUPERIORITY GIVES US NO RIGHT

Human brain structure may be superior to animals which may have led to us believing that we are more powerful. However, in every and any ethical sense, we have no right over anyone’s life.

Calves (baby cows) are the most popular form of leather due to their softness. Babies are killed to make your handbag.

5. LEATHER DOES NOT BIODEGRADE WELL

The most common method of leather tanning uses hazardous chromium salts. When this type of leather ends up in our landfills, it leaches its chromium and other harmful chemicals in the soil that harm plants and animals and contaminate natural groundwater.