Leather Destroys the Planet
The BFC has acknowledged that we’re facing a climate catastrophe, yet it has so far failed to implement a ban on environmentally destructive leather products. Animal agriculture, which includes the leather industry, is responsible for nearly one-fifth of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, and turning skin into leather requires significant energy and dangerous chemicals, including formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and cyanide-based oils, dyes, and finishes.
Cruelty on the Catwalk
At slaughterhouses, cows killed for leather may be skinned and dismembered while they’re still conscious – after already having endured castration, tail-docking, and dehorning, without any painkillers, on farms.
Ostriches, ducks, and geese are live-plucked or slaughtered for their down and feathers. A PETA Asia investigation into the down industry connected major brands like H&M to footage of ducks being stabbed in the neck.
The Future Is Vegan
Copenhagen Fashion Week has already banned fur, and several other events have extended their fur ban to include other cruelly obtained materials – the organisers of Helsinki Fashion Week have banned leather, and Melbourne Fashion Week now prohibits wild bird feathers.
Sustainable and animal-friendly vegan leather can be made from the prickly pear cactus, mushroom, apple, pineapple, and other innovative materials.