Who Pays For Your Leather Shoes? (Non Leather Shoes and Accessories in India)

Consider this. The website of the Council of Leather Exports boasts of increasing leather exports from India. The same website declares that the Government of India has identified the “leather sector” as a “focus Sector” in the Foreign Trade Policy of 2010-2014. (Source). Do you think such lofty targets would have been set based on the expectation of raw material supply from animals who would die of natural causes?

The reality is that animals—cows, pigs, buffaloes, sheep, goats, and you name it—are being and will be especially slaughtered to meet the “target” set by the leather sector. Each time some body declares that leather sales or exports will increase by a certain percentage, it means that a proportionate number of animals will be slaughtered.

Consider this too. The companies that manufacture merchandise made from animal leather register constant production month after month. Would it be prudent to assume that production, sales, and profits depend on animals that die a natural death? The fact is that animals do not die naturally at the same rate to meet the “demand” of the burgeoning leather market. They are killed for the purpose.

To learn about the detailed truth, you can read an India-specific research on the leather industry by the organization, Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC), India titled, Commercially available leather is always from animals that are killed. Please click the title of the research to learn more.

Sadly, the leather industry thrives on mass ignorance, and a misinformed and artificially created “demand” for leather. “Misinformed” because most people who buy “genuine” leather are unaware of the brutality based on which which the industry operates. Or, people are not aware of the availability of cruelty-free non-leather. The leather industry hoodwinks people into thinking that “leather” is durable and lasts longer. What they do not advertise is how the raw material is procured. The truth might turn off many buyers.

Also, the numerous processes involved in converting animal skin to an item for human use makes animal-derived leather cost more than non-leather. The society is conditioned to believe that costly items are better. Which is not always the case. Not in this case, at least.

Yet another aspect that the leather industry does not tell us about is the “human” concerns/costs around leather production in terms of the occupational health hazards of the tannery workers. A study published in the Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine on the leather tannery workers in the city of Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh revealed a significantly higher prevalence of morbidity among them. Further, the study observes:

“Leather production includes many operations with different exposures, which can be harmful for the health of the workers, and particularly be carcinogenic. Some compounds in the tanning process are considered as probably being carcinogenic to humans (some benzene-based dyes and formaldehyde). Besides these, scores of other chemicals and organic solvents such as chromate and bichromate salts, aniline, butyl acetate, ethanol, benzene, toluene, sulfuric acid and ammonium hydrogen sulfide are used in the tannery industry.”

You can read the study in detail by clicking this link on the Journal site.

You can well guess by now that signing on a leather deal translates to signing the death warrant of thousands of animals. It also means destroying the lives of many human beings and their families. However, sustained campaigns led by organizations such as People For Animals (PFA), People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), and others have borne fruits. Some of the recent gains have been to ban the production of leather shoes for army soldiers that would have involved the killing of four lakh cows, ban in animal leather shoes in the schools of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, decision of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to phase out the use of leather shoes and belts and replace them with non-leather, an overall ban on leather shoes in Indian schools, and so on. Each of these success stories are linked to their respective reports on the internet, you can click the links to learn more.

You can train yourself to distinguish animal leather from non-leather. Below is a note courtesy BWC, India on how to do the same: 

Leather or non-leather?: A reliable way to check if the material in question is leather or not is to smell it; if still in doubt and if possible try to inspect its back surface by prying it open slightly: if it is not leather, it will have a material like texture, otherwise it will be very smooth. Or else, burn a corner: leather will burn without a flame and give a flesh burning odour, whereas all ‘synthetics’ will quickly catch fire because they are polymer based. Another way to check is by applying a bit of saliva since animal leather absorbs moisture – on faux leather it will not ‘disappear’. ‘Synthetics’ have an unbroken uniformity in pattern over their entire surface whereas animal leather varies in patches. In the case of Pleather/Bicast leather which consists of a thick layer of plastic or PU (Poly-Urethane) applied to bonded/reconstituted leather, if the material is very stiff, bubbles are visible, or looks like it will crack, it is leather. Courtesy: BWC, India (http://www.bwcindia.org)

Here is the good news at long last! Non-leather shoes are readily available in India and yes, maybe in the shopping complex next to you! Today we present a compilation of some prominent companies that sell non-leather shoes in India. We say “some” because there are many more companies—local and otherwise. The compilation is a glimpse to convey that non-leather shoes, bags, belts, and wallets do exist and can be very stylish and offer a variety as well. Most importantly, they are ethical. All we need to do is to make our needs felt and ask for them.

Please note that the compilation appears in the descending order of the Company’s spread in the country. You can click the name of each company to locate a store near you. Most importantly, please involve the salespeople in the store and ask them to guide you to the non-leather section. This sends out a signal in the market that non-leather is being actively sought. At the same time, do arm yourself with know-how on how to distinguish non-leather from leather and vice versa.

1. Bata: Everybody in India has worn a Bata shoe at some stage in their lives. They are omnipresent with the widest spread of showrooms in India. Although not all the merchandise at Bata is non-leather; the Company offers a very fine range of non-leather shoes and bags. The non-leather selection includes formal/informal/sports shoes for men, women, and children, and handbags for women.

2. Liberty Shoes Ltd.: Also has a large spread of showrooms in India. Similar to Bata, Liberty does not exclusively manufacture non-leather, but has a range of non-leather formal/informal/ shoes for men, women, and children, and belts and wallets for men.

3. Adidas/Fila/Nike/PUMA/Reebok: We have clubbed these companies together because they primarily sell casual and athletic shoes for men, women, and children. They also sell bags. Please note that some athletic/sports shoes stocked by these companies are of animal-derived leather, or in other words, not all shoes are of canvas and synthetic leather material. Therefore, you need to ask and ensure. At times, the label on the shoes indicate the material.

4. Metro Shoes: Although does not exclusively manufacture non-leather items, but is sensitive to the needs of people who ask for non-leather. The proof is in their website. If you go to the Metro Shoes website and from the first drop down select “Shoe For”, then click the second drop down, “Shoe Category”, you will find the sub-category “Vegetarian”. A spokesperson from the company informed us that in case you are not shopping online, you can take help from the salespeople at the stores to help you seek the “100% non-leather” shoes. Metro Shoes has a range of non-leather formal/informal/ shoes for men, women, and children, and bags for women. We recommend that you make a note of the “vegetarian” shoes from the online list before going to the store.

5. Lifestyle Stores: Offers a range of non-leather formal shoes for men with a starting price of Rs.600/-. We found a reasonable variety at the Koramangla Lifestyle store in Bangalore. However, when we wrote to Lifestyle for further inquiries, they did not respond. Nevertheless, the pairs we bought were definitely non-leather as the salespeople vouched for them and they passed the above mentioned leather test as well.

6. Crocs: The beautiful Crocs shoes are primarily crafted from a material called croslite. Croslite is a proprietary resin substance made from a polymer by the name of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA). EVA is sometimes more popularly known as “foam rubber” or “expanded leather”. We were told that the women’s and children’s selections are made of the croslite material; however a few designs in the men’s range use a strip of animal-derived leather. It is easy to bypass these designs with non-vegan strips. The salespersons guide you at the stores. We have reviewed Crocs on this blog; you can click this link for the review.

7. Baggit: This is a brand that you can completely trust because they sell non-leather merchandise only. Baggit is the recipient of the PETA Proggy Award for the year 2007. Baggit offers a stylish selection of formal/informal shoes, bags, belts, wallets, purses, pouches, and mobile phone holders for women. For men, Baggit offers good looking and well-designed wallets. We have reviewed Baggit on this blog in the past; you can click this link for the review.

8. Compassion Avenue: This is also a company that you can completely trust because they sell non-leather merchandise only. The selection includes formal shoes, belts, and wallets for men, and informal shoes for women. However, Compassion Avenue products are available in Pune only. You can even order by post by contacting the proprietor. We have reviewed Compassion Avenue on this blog in the past; you can click this link for the review.

9. Senso Vegetarian: A PETA-certified, ethically-sound company with 100% vegetarian formal shoes for men and women. We have reviewed Senso Vegetarian on this blog, you can click this link for the review.

It has been Vegan India’s endeavor to find vegan parallels of most things in life and share the information with whoever is willing or wants to listen. We do not claim to be 100% accurate nor claim to be the ultimate database on vegan-related matters. We are simply vegan bloggers, here to celebrate each day of our vegan existence with lots of color, photographs, food, compassion, positive stories, and our companion animals. Anybody is only too welcome to join in the celebration. Please feel free to add on to this list or any other list/story in any page in this blog. You can simply pull down a comment box and post your inputs. Thank you.

Acknowledgements:
We thank Swosti Mishra, our ideator friend, for spontaneously translating ideas into visuals. We also thank Amruta Ubale, vegan comrade from Pune, for sharing her valuable inputs to develop some of the viewpoints in this story.

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