Vegan & Ethical Alternatives to Leather

Wear your own skin!!

As a real fashionista, I do love the aesthetic appeal of leather (and I am pretty sure I am not the only one !!) but as a supporter of animal rights, I have been digging to find animal-friendly leather substitutes.

Drawing by the Vegan Artist Alba Paris 

I do not want to talk about fake leather (faux leather) which is made out of PVC and so might be cruelty-free but comes with serious environmental costs. Indeed the PVC-based synthetics are harmful to the environment , the workers, and since they do not fully biodegrade, they can enter the food chain at all level. Plus they can not be recycled so this is definitely not an ethical alternative to leather.

So what is left ?? So many options : 

• The Pineapple Leather by Pinatex : 100% eco-friendly !

• The Wine leather by Vegea

• Recycled Rubber : knitting by Weareknitters / Accessories by  Paguro and Laura Zabo

• The Mushroom leather by Muskin 

• The Nuvi Releaf leather  by NUVI NOMAD : a durable, firm and natural leaf leather made in Thaïland

• The coolstone leather : made from sewable slate stone

Those all have leather-like textures, but we also find alternatives in completely different materials such as :

• Cork

• Paper : I had to show you the amazing work of the dutch designer Ilvy Jacobs

• Wood