Is vegetable tanned leather sustainable? Let’s do some leather myth-busting.

Vegetable tanned leather is often positioned as more environmentally friendly than both chrome tanned and synthetic leather. We are often greenwashed into thinking that it can biodegrade and that brands use it to protect our planet. But the truth is, a lot of the information that circulates about vegetable tanned leather isn’t accurate. In order to put the rumours to rest, we’re going to bust five myths you might hear when it comes to vegetable tanned leather.

Myth 1: Vegetable tanned leather is common

While we hear a lot about vegetable tanned leather, it’s not actually used all that often. In fact, about 90% of leather is chrome tanned, making veg-tanned leather not very common. This means that the large majority of leather is being tanned with chromium and other chemicals such as formaldehyde and arsenic, which pose serious threats to tannery workers’ health. Exposure to these chemicals, especially when ongoing, can result in chronic coughing, skin ailments and even cancer.

Leather proponents like to justify the existence and popularity of the industry by touting the prevalence of vegetable tanned leather, however it’s clear that it’s not the norm, but an outlier in the industry, as chrome tanned leather continues to dominate the industry. Plus, in reality, vegetable tanned leather isn’t as great as it’s cracked up to be… let’s unpack that in the next few myths.

Myth 2: Vegetable tanned leather is biodegradable

One of the most common misconceptions about vegetables tanned leather is that it’s biodegradable. Often listed as a ‘pro’ of using the material, this claim is simply not true.

Even the tanning industry and its independent studying finds that leather does not effectively biodegrade, regardless of the method of tanning used. When it comes down to it, leather is tanned in order to prevent effective biodegrading. The process exists to make something organic – skin – into something inorganic and long-lasting – leather). Vegetable tannins being used rather than chromium doesn’t change that.

Myth 3: Vegetable tanned leather is significantly better for the environment than conventional leather

Again, we see the narrative that vegetable tanned leather is better than conventional leather in leaps and bounds. However, it’s clear that putting the material on a pedestal is a mistake, once we we dig into the science behind its environmental impact.

A study titled ‘Measuring the Environmental Footprint of Leather Processing Technologies’ can easily bust the myth that vegetable tanned leather is a far better solution than conventional, chrome tanned leather. Its findings suggests that there are ‘no significant differences’ between the footprint of vegetable and chromium leather tanning processes. More data and studies are needed to back this up – with such data, collected in the Material Sustainability Index, supporting the findings. The takeaway here is that vegetable tanning is not the solution to the leather industry’s woes.

Myth 4: Vegetable tanned leather is better for the environment than synthetic leather

Advocates push this myth often, as they try to demonise synthetic leather as a distraction from leather’s own flaws. Firstly, let’s compare the water usage involved in both types of leather. Thanks to data from the Higg Materials Sustainability Index we know that leather from cow skins uses 14 times more water than synthetic PU leather does. To put cow skin leather’s water use into perspective, Collective Fashion Justice’s CIRCUMFAUNA initiative calculated that even before leather is tanned, its water footprint in production is so high that to produce leather for a pair of boots uses the same amount of water as someone showering nearly 323 times.

In addition, greenhouse gas emissions are far greater in cow skin leather production than in synthetic leather. To be specific, the carbon footprint of cow skin leather is at least 110kg of CO2e per square metre whereas synthetic leather has an impact of 15.8kg of CO2e per square metre.

Many of the environmental issues most central to leather production exist before the tanning stage. For example, the land used to rear cattle for their flesh and valuable ‘co-products’ like skins used for leather, is so immense and inefficient that it has resulted in 80% of Amazonian deforestation.

Myth 5: Vegetable tanned leather is better than vegan leather

Yes, there’s a difference between myths four and five, and that’s because not all vegan leather is synthetic! There are many alternatives to leather, some of which are completely biodegradable, with a footprint far smaller than both animal-derived and synthetic materials.

It’s important to remember too, that when we compare materials we must think not only of their environmental, but ethical implications. It’s crucial to remember that any animal-derived leather, vegetable tanned or otherwise, is the processed skin from a slaughtered animal. Many injustices face both non-human and human animals in the leather supply chain, making the material inferior to those which hold more total ethics.