Cruelty Concealed: The Greenwashing Of The Leather Trade

"Ethical." "Sustainable." "Natural." The fashion industry is full of terms that carry a lot of weight, but that aren't regulated in any way, leaving them open to interpretation. For decades, animal skins have been seen as higher in quality, more long-lasting, and simply "better" than other materials. In today's conversation on fashion and sustainability, this translates to a belief that leather, wool, and other animal-based textiles are natural, hence kinder to the environment. But is it really that simple?

By Sascha Camilli: writer, speaker, activist and vegan fashion expert.

It's no secret that animal agriculture is one of the primary causes of the climate crisis. Raising, farming, and slaughtering 80 billion land animals for human consumption puts a huge strain on the environment - and it's easy to believe that this is an issue that's connected to the food system only. When we hear "animal agriculture" we immediately think "meat", but the truth is that leather, wool and other animal-derived fabrics are just as much a part of animal agriculture. The environmental aspect of raising a cow for leather and raising a cow for meat is the same.

And it is a huge impact indeed. In 2017, the Pulse of Fashion Industry Report found cow leather to be the most environmentally intensive material of all materials reviewed - which included polyurethane, acrylic, nylon and other plastic-derived fabrics. This is because, while the production of synthetics is highly toxic, the climate impact of raising large numbers of animals simply cannot be ignored.

One organisation that is doing its best to ensure that it is not ignored is Collective Fashion Justice, whose report Fabricating the Truth deals with dis- and misinformation in the leather industry - and delves deep into greenwashing. Analysing 25 leading leather trade groups, the report unearths the many tactics of the billion-dollar industry to ensure that leather is seen as clean and green, while the backstory of animal hides is anything but.

"The leather industry works to promote itself as producing a responsible material essential to supporting fashion’s sustainability goals," says Collective Fashion Justice founder Emma Håkansson. "Leather trade and lobbying groups spend significant resources pedalling disinformation to green-wash and ethics-wash leather. These groups distract from and distort the reality of animal-derived leather as a major contributor to fashion’s climate, biodiversity, broader environmental and ethical crises." 

Commonly, we will see leather portrayed as a "by-product" of the meat industry. This makes it sound benign, as if the entire industry existed just to minimise waste. In reality, skins are a lucrative co-product of the meat trade, boosting the industry through their own value. The leather industry is in fact worth $100 billion, where meat is "only" worth $60 billion. Ignoring the raising of the animals has also brought the leather industry to tout animal hides as a "recycled" material, failing to take into account the impacts of factory farms, transport, and slaughterhouses.

Leather also likes to pretend that tanning is its main problem, which has led to companies launching vegetable-tanned leather - which is a form of greenwashing in itself. This makes only a tiny hint of a difference: a report from fashion house Kering has found that over 90% of the impact leather has on the environment happens before the tannery stages. Raising and rearing animals on such a massive scale (leather takes around one billion animal lives per year) takes an ample toll on the planet when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, land and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity.

Håkansson has also revealed that the leather industry actively undermines environmental initiatives. Leather trade groups have lobbied to exclude leather from EU anti-deforestation regulations, despite the fact that leather production is a massive contributor to deforestation. As land is cleared and forests are cut down to make space for factory farms and growing soy for animal feed (over 80% of the world's soy is fed to farm animals), some of the world's richest forests are disappearing due to animal farming. Approximately 80% of the deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is due to cattle ranching.

Leather groups have also been claiming that methane from cattle does not contribute to the climate crisis but is just part of the normal life cycle. "Of course, this is nonsense," writes Håkansson. "Due to methane (84 times more potent than carbon within a 20 year timeframe) animal-derived leather is likely the single most climate impactful material to produce."

The groups analysed have also been caught using climate-related events such as COP28 to advocate against anti-emissions initiatives, using the same tactics as the fossil fuel industry. 

As leather is unlikely to go anywhere and trade regulations are lacking, it is unfortunately down to consumers to spot greenwashing and help keep the fashion industry accountable. Luckily, with organisations such as Collective Fashion Justice in our corner, that job is a little bit easier.

By Sascha Camilli

About Sascha

Sascha Camilli is a vegan fashion writer, speaker and activist. Her book Vegan Style is out now on Murdoch Books. For more about Sascha, you can read our interview with her or read her newsletter Kind Of Wild. You can also follow her on Instagram.

Cover image by Jakob Cotton. Second photo by Leon Ephraim. Third photo by Iga Palacz,all via Unsplash.

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