If you have been sent this post, you have likely made the almost ubiquitous assumption that when you’re choosing between materials, your only viable options are leather (or wool) or plastic. It is also likely that I (or some other vegan you’re interacting with) is tired of typing out the same rebuttal over and over so they have sent you this post.
I hope you don’t take this as dismissal, and to be fair to you, you’re probably coming into this without the context of all the other conversations the person you are talking to has already had about this. It is almost uncanny how the same 3-4 arguments are repeated, almost word for word, and even using the same examples… It is almost as if this has been drummed into us by millions of dollars of corporate propaganda and a public misinformation campaign intended to greenwash animal products and attack the alternatives. Either way, let’s get straight into it.
There is widespread misinformation about wool and leather which has helped shape public perceptions of these fabrics. I have debunked some of the most common pieces of propaganda regarding leather in this article and wool in this one, but the more fundamental issue is the pernicious idea that you are forced to choose between either purchasing an animal fabric or purchasing plastic. This is an intentional way to frame the debate in favour of animal agriculture interests.
The assumption that when choosing clothing, only two or three options exist is a fallacy. This is a clear false dichotomy, where we include only the option that we think is the ‘right’ option and one other alternative that we think is worse – in this case, plastic. Of course, this is nonsense. Many alternatives exist that are more sustainable and far more humane than leather, wool, or plastics. I will discuss just a few of them.
Alternatives to Wool
The most common alternative to wool is one of the best – organic cotton. Conventionally grown cotton often involves pesticide use and far higher water use, whereas organic cotton reduces these problems considerably. Recycled cotton is even better, though tends to be more expensive. It is worth noting that the climate impact of cotton can vary greatly depending on how and where it is grown, but this is also true of sheep’s wool. Even accounting for these variations, sheep’s wool is wildly unsustainable and extremely resource-intensive, by just about any metric that makes sense. Keep in mind that the below does not include end-of-life cycle impacts – I’ll go into that a bit later.
Infographic from Collective Fashion Justice.
If your immediate response to learning this is to point out that cotton can’t keep you warm in cold weather (this is the standard rebuttal), then you may be surprised to learn that thick-weave cotton is very warm, including knits, flannel, and fleece. These are the same forms that you’d buy wool in for its warmth. Wool is still going to be warmer (and so is polyester), but for all but the most extreme cold, organic cotton will serve you well if you layer sensibly.
Cotton is not the only alternative, though. Hemp is extremely sustainable, it is very robust, doesn’t require pesticides, is cheap to produce with little land, and can be weaved into fleece just as wool can. It is also much more sustainable than even organic cotton. Hemp is also an excellent insulator, and it helps that it is antibacterial and antimicrobial.
Another great alternative is bamboo. Bamboo’s sustainability credentials are well known so I won’t spend too much time on that, but it ranks up there with hemp, and far better than regular cotton, wool, or leather. Bamboo is often blended with organic cotton, this combination is exceptionally good as an insulator, because the natural hollow structure of bamboo fibers traps warm air close to your body.
It is worth noting that clothing advertised as ‘Bamboo’ is essentially Rayon. Bamboo fibers are subject to cellulose treatment, chemical processing, and mechanical procedures to form the fibers. Rayon can be made from several plant fibers, but whichever one is used, the end result is basically the same. This makes rayon and ‘bamboo’ technically a non-plastic, synthetic material. It is still far more sustainable than wool or leather, and this process is part of what makes the textile so flexible for use in clothing.
Wool is not completely waterproof, but it is water resistant thanks to the lanolin that sheep naturally secrete. It will hold up better than some of these alternatives, and this is the major downside of hemp, but we can still find some good plant-based materials that are great in the rain. Bamboo is amazing in this department, partly because of the processs that turns it into rayon, but it is also naturally water-resistant. Some forms of organic cotton are also waterproof, such as ventile. Recycled plastics are usually used for waterproof coats and the like, but there are other options.
Alternatives to Leather
Like wool, people like to pretend that the only alternative to wearing it is buying plastic. This is even stranger than with wool though, because so many of the most common leather items, such as jackets, don’t need to be replaced at all. People primarily buy leather jackets because they like the way they look, but very few people need one. This is less so the case with shoes and bags, though the latter has such a wealth of obvious alternatives that it is raised much less often.
Infographic from Collective Fashion Justice.
Fortunately, there are some very sustainable alternatives to leather. For bags, wallets and other general uses, cork is perhaps the most sustainable of all alternatives. Cork is the only material that is actually carbon negative – harvesting it increases the ability of trees to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Cork is hard-wearing, can be made to look and feel similar to leather, and unlike commercially produced leather, it is fully biodegradable. It is usually placed on another fabric, such as cotton, then heated to bind the sheets together. You won’t find many cork jackets, but you can find plenty of shoes and other accessories if you look online.
Mirium is a lesser-known alternative, but can be used to replace any leather item. It is entirely plastic-free, made through a chemical process from natural materials. It is far more sustainable than leather and is making some inroads into the fashion industry, with designers such as Stella McCartney releasing ranges using the material. It is quite expensive as a high-end material, but it is reportedly very long lasting so it may be worth the investment if you want a leather-look jacket.
Other materials are more limited in availability, such as leather made from leaf fiber – the designer Thamon makes beautiful bags and wallets with this. There is also mycelium ‘leather’ made from mushrooms that can be grown in a matter of days and leather made from mango waste, pineapple leaves, cacti, grapes, and apples. These are much more niche options, but they are available – vegetarian shoes offer some styles in these materials and they ship internationally. If you want to read about some of the innovative replacements still in development, you can do that here.
Again though, for most purposes, you just don’t need a material that looks and behaves like cowhide. Organic cotton, hemp, linen, bamboo, denim, and synthetic alternatives like recycled rubber, and yes, recycled polyurethane. Things used to be more difficult, but you can buy winter coats suited for the coldest climates made from entirely vegan materials, some of which include recycled plastic, but many of the high-end ones don’t. There is nothing that leather and wool can do that synthetics and plant-based fibers can’t.
A Word on Plastics
Many other alternatives exist for both leather and wool, including synthetic and natural options – you can find a fairly complete list here. All that said, there is a reason that plastic use is so ubiquitous, and it isn’t because of vegans: It is because it is cheap and flexible. Pleather jackets are called ‘vegan leather’ because it is a convenient marketing label and a way of avoiding using the word ‘plastic,’ not because vegans are the primary driver of demand for these products. Most vegans would rather not own cheap plastic jackets that quickly fall apart, either.
None of this makes plastic use any less of a problem, but it does beg the question of why vegans are pretty much the only people being told that plastic is terrible and that we’re destroying the environment by not supporting those poor leather and wool corporations. Most people own plastic clothing, whether that is PU leather, polyester mixes, or some other variation. People aren’t choosing polyester over wool or pleather over leather because they think it is better, they are choosing it because they can’t afford a pricier vegan alternative, or to buy wool or leather. Most wool knitwear is mixed with plastic, but it is vegans and our supposed love of plastic who seem to face the most criticism.
Some of that criticism is also misplaced. Opponents of vegan alternatives often oppose plastic so virulently that even the mere concept of using any form of plastic in any capacity is an unforgivable environmental sin, even though almost everyone saying this owns plastic clothing, plastic upholstery, and furniture.
The strength of feeling about plastic often means the nuance is missed. For example, I’ve had several conversations with people who balk at the idea of using recycled plastics at all, and say we should only rely on ‘natural materials’ like wool and leather. But post-consumer plastic is a good way to make use of plastics that would otherwise go to landfills and don’t create demand for new plastics. Many of the higher-end options for vegan winter clothing use recycled polyurethane, but this is for some reason widely dismissed as a non-option, simply because it is plastic.
It rings a little hollow to refuse to use secondhand plastics on the grounds of something like microplastic pollution, while simultaneously defending leather and wool, despite the enormous polluting impact of leather in particular, and the significant emissions produced by the wool industry. This seems like something of a double standard.
Buying Secondhand
There are good, ethical reasons why vegans would want to avoid even secondhand leather and wool, which I cover in my FAQs here. But, since this conversation focused on environmental impact, it is worthwhile for us to mention used clothing. As another way to weigh the debate in their favour, leather and wool advocates often compare secondhand wool and leather to new vegan alternatives. This is a transparently biased way to set up the debate. You can buy secondhand polyester or PU just as easily as secondhand wool or leather, if not more so.
That said, whether you’re buying recycled leather or recycled vegan materials, buying secondhand will always be more sustainable than buying new, regardless of what the item is made from. Given how cruel and environmentally destructive wool and leather are, there is absolutely no justification for buying it new. If you insist on owning wool and leather because you’re convinced that it has some unique property that cannot be replaced, at the very least you should buy these materials secondhand rather than new. This way, you are not directly funding the exploitation and slaughter of sentient beings for profit, or creating demand for these materials to be produced.
Conclusions
It is important to note that the infographics above only include the environmental harm in producing a material, but not the impact which comes from the end of life cycle of the material, for example, biodegradability and microplastic shedding. This is why, despite the data showing that PU leather is more sustainable than many alternatives, I have never tried to paint it as a good option. Though I couldn’t find data on this, I’d imagine that microplastic pollution likely offsets some of the more favourable metrics for PU’s production impact.
This data also does not fully account for impacts like land use and deforestation, both sheep and cattle being notorious for this. Unfortunately, a full, reliable comparative impact assessment that isn’t commissioned by a leather or wool producer seems to be impossible to find. Below is another chart measuring carbon equivalent emissions only, for comparison. This one shows one study’s estimate of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions in kilograms per 264 grams of fiber for seven different fabrics.
Most of the impact of materials does come from production, and while wool fares better, most commercially produced leather is not quickly biodegradable either. Most end up incinerated or in landfills. This is why it is important to consider the full lifecycle of the material, including how we dispose of it. If you can donate an item or pass it on for further use, then you should – animal fabrics included. If you’re going vegan and slowly replacing your animal fabrics, please don’t throw them away. The harm has already been done, so the best outcome is for someone who really needs these items to benefit from them. Many animal sanctuaries will accept knitted fabrics and even fur to use for bedding, and most charity shops will take clean clothing in reasonable condition.
Plastic is harmful, there is no question about that, both in production and at disposal. However, the current overreaction to the mere existence of ‘vegan leather’ and other such alternatives has more to do with public perceptions of veganism than any genuine objection to using the materials themselves. Almost no one is shaming their friend for turning up to a night out wearing a brand-new PU leather jacket. Fewer still are avoiding plastic use in their own lives. Yet, put the word ‘vegan’ before it in a shopfront, and suddenly we are all enraged and have a deep, heartfelt commitment to using only ‘natural’ materials – whatever that means.
These perceptions don’t come from nowhere, they are created by millions of dollars in advertising, a carefully crafted climate misinformation campaign, and the greenwashing of the leather and wool industry’s environmental impact. But wool and leather are not essentials for the vast majority of people; they are luxury items that command a luxury price tag. For those of us who have a deeply held objection to cattle and sheep farming on ethical or environmental grounds, humane and sustainable alternatives do exist. The continued pretense that they don’t is an attempt to narrow available options down to the acceptable few, which benefits no one except the wool and leather industries. They don’t need our help to advertise their products.
There is no ‘ideal’ material that will do everything leather and wool will, and will also be completely sustainable. Some materials will be more waterproof, some warmer, some cheaper, some more widely available – none of them will be all of these things at once. Wool and leather don’t meet these criteria either, certainly not in terms of sustainability or ethics. We should choose fabric options wisely, by considering their use, disposal, and impact before buying. We should all be willing to do that, but it is unreasonable to expect anyone to provide a perfect alternative that can tick every box for every possible use. This is especially true when we consider that what we are replacing are materials that are far from perfect themselves, both being incredibly harmful to animals and the environment.
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