environment

For Stella McCartney, fashion must ditch leather or die trying

10 Comments
By Jordi ZAMORA

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10 Comments
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Using leather and fast fashion are not such simple topics or problems to solve.

For example, although she claims people wear fast fashion a maximum of 3 times, I believe this might be true for rich people but not for people who have less money. Generally we wear our clothes until we can't fix them anymore. I personally have a shirt from H&M that I've been wearing since the early 2000s. Secondly, you also have to consider that most sustainable fashion brands don't make clothing for people above a size large/medium or for disabled people. So, their clothing is a lot less inclusive and many people shop fast fashion because it fits. Third, the price. I can go to a second-hand store (like Hard-Off) and get a used leather belt for 300 yen that will last me for years and years.

Of course, if there were less expensive, sustainable clothing that fit I would go for it, but the problems with sustainable fashion right now aren't so easy/simplistic to solve.

Not to mention, making fake leather out of plastics or fungi or pineapple or whatever still requires factories, extraction and manipulation of resources, and energy use. Are they really better for the planet than organic leather? It seems to me there is still a long way to go in terms of improving the fashion industry, and focusing on leather seems small compared to all the other problems.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Faux leather and fur use far more energy and petrol in production. Animal sourced textiles are naturally replenishable , economic, and enviro friendly.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

People complain about fast fashion but I find that my clothes from Uniqlo last for well over a decade.

Animal sourced textiles are naturally replenishable , economic, and enviro friendly.

And damn cruel. Nobody would ever let Buffalo Bill work in a clothes factory.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

People complain about fast fashion but I find that my clothes from Uniqlo last for well over a decade.

She's clearly thinking about women who shop at GU, Zara, Mango etc. who want what's trendy but wouldn't be caught dead in the same outfit twice. Sadly there's a lot of women out there like that. Men will wear their clothes until it's threadbare, is too big/small, or ruined.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

There are very few instances of wholesale being grown strictly for their leather. Most cases, with most leathers (cattle, deer, pork, horse), they're a byproduct of the food industry, and would be otherwise discarded. Again a hidden vegan agenda, or the empty speech of someone with far more money than brains...

Artificial (vegetal or oil based) leather is many times more damaging to the environment.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

My experience is fake leather wears out quickly. The floor of my house is often sprinkled with the flakes of fake leather that is rubbing off clothes or furniture. My 30yr+ old leather jacket and 20yr+ old leather sofas dont have that problem.

Environmentalist/animal rights and fashion powers that be should decide if they want to promote durable long lasting clothes that don't need to be thrown away quickly, or cheaper clothes that may be better for animals/environment.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The bottom line is that she is super rich and has no ability to consider what motivates those buyers of clothes who make an average wage.

We buy what we perceive to be good value that might last a year or two. In many cases Uniqlo fits the bill.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Really?? Who uses clothes for just a few times? Just the rich. I am using undies from 2017 and still feeling warm and protected.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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