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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Leather or Leatherette? Which is the most ethical?
« on: 28/01/2025 06:10:10 »
Hi.
I hope this Biology sub-section is a reasonable place to put this question - but I'm happy to have it moved elsewhere.
So, I'm thinking of getting a car and that means I have to choose a seat material. The main options are leather or leatherette car seats.
Now, for years, I would have assumed that there is a surplus of leather available since so many cows are slaughtered for the meat industry. Indeed I've probably said exactly this to other people.
I think it's time to double check this information.
1. A brief survey of web results suggests that leather prices are ever increasing and there may not be any surplus.
2. Some web search results are suggesting that most leather is imported from countries that may very well be slaughtering the cattle just for the leather and possibly in very horrific ways to keep the skins in good shape. That may be just scare-mongering but the thing is I just don't know. Car seats are some of the most extreme examples of leather use, you can't make large items like a car seat from several small scraps of leather stitched or glued together, you would want good and fully intact skins.
3. Even the most prestige brands of clothing have been shown to be sourcing materials and labour from developing countries quite often and I have no reason to assume prestige car manufacturer brands would be any different. If BMW and Mercedes-Benz can get large pieces of quality leather from a country whose animal welfare standards may be un-acceptable in the United Kingdom, then they would probably still be getting their leather from that country.
On the other hand, leatherette seems to be a vinyl material. I'm no expert on materials and fabrics so you may wish to check that - but if it is based on poly-vinyl-chloride then that stuff is a plastic. So, leatherette seats are products of the petro-chemical industry and that's not something that can be ethically ignored either. How much oil is used, how much harm is done to the environment when it is made and how much harm is yet to come since this synthetic material won't bio-degrade and is just another large piece of plastic burried in our land-fill sites and possibly contributing to the issue of micro-plastics entering the rivers and oceans? Perhaps natural leather is the more environmentally friendly solution? I don't know.
Anyway, that's the background and the motivation for the question. Which kind of car seat will be the most "green", "animal friendly", "environmentally responsible" and if there's any other ethical considerations you believe are relevant then I'll just say "most ethical choice"?
I'd be grateful for any insights you may have.
Best Wishes.
I hope this Biology sub-section is a reasonable place to put this question - but I'm happy to have it moved elsewhere.
So, I'm thinking of getting a car and that means I have to choose a seat material. The main options are leather or leatherette car seats.
Now, for years, I would have assumed that there is a surplus of leather available since so many cows are slaughtered for the meat industry. Indeed I've probably said exactly this to other people.
I think it's time to double check this information.
1. A brief survey of web results suggests that leather prices are ever increasing and there may not be any surplus.
2. Some web search results are suggesting that most leather is imported from countries that may very well be slaughtering the cattle just for the leather and possibly in very horrific ways to keep the skins in good shape. That may be just scare-mongering but the thing is I just don't know. Car seats are some of the most extreme examples of leather use, you can't make large items like a car seat from several small scraps of leather stitched or glued together, you would want good and fully intact skins.
3. Even the most prestige brands of clothing have been shown to be sourcing materials and labour from developing countries quite often and I have no reason to assume prestige car manufacturer brands would be any different. If BMW and Mercedes-Benz can get large pieces of quality leather from a country whose animal welfare standards may be un-acceptable in the United Kingdom, then they would probably still be getting their leather from that country.
On the other hand, leatherette seems to be a vinyl material. I'm no expert on materials and fabrics so you may wish to check that - but if it is based on poly-vinyl-chloride then that stuff is a plastic. So, leatherette seats are products of the petro-chemical industry and that's not something that can be ethically ignored either. How much oil is used, how much harm is done to the environment when it is made and how much harm is yet to come since this synthetic material won't bio-degrade and is just another large piece of plastic burried in our land-fill sites and possibly contributing to the issue of micro-plastics entering the rivers and oceans? Perhaps natural leather is the more environmentally friendly solution? I don't know.
Anyway, that's the background and the motivation for the question. Which kind of car seat will be the most "green", "animal friendly", "environmentally responsible" and if there's any other ethical considerations you believe are relevant then I'll just say "most ethical choice"?
I'd be grateful for any insights you may have.
Best Wishes.