Vegan Leather Products in India – Three Buying Tips

In India, as many of you may be aware, certain places of worship, particularly Hindu and Jain temples, don’t allow people to enter their premises carrying any item made from animal leather. Leather is considered “impure” as it is from a dead animal. Hence, wallets, bags, shoes, belts, watches with leather straps, etc. are collected at the entrance of the place of worship and not allowed in. At the same time, the Indian society regards leather from animals as a “luxury” item where “genuine” leather is a premium commodity. Advertisements invoke the “real” ness of products made from animal skin and sell the idea of the real as an aspiration to have. Without getting into the numbers, the leather industry is among the top ten foreign exchange earners for the country. This, when India is known as the land of ahimsa.

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These facts and visuals are indicative of cognitive dissonance in our society, where, although the source of the raw material for leather products is known, yet people buy items made from animal skin.

There is another scenario. We randomly checked with a few vegan friends who said that before they turned vegan, they simply didn’t know or didn’t engage with questions regarding the source of animal leather, the way it is procured, and the kind of processing that goes into it.

This could be true of many people.

Suppose there was mass awareness about the cruelty involved in animal skin leather, would we as a nation renounce it?

There are indications that we would.

The efforts of animal activists in India have continuously helped to bring out the gory truths behind animal leather. Here’s the good news to support it. According to a market research, the Indian synthetic or artificial leather sector is witnessing augmented growth and projections till 2025 look very healthy indeed.

Because of the awareness about animal leather in the last one decade, the market has naturally responded and we will see that later in this article.

So if you are a new or aspiring vegan, or someone who thinks it is a “struggle” to find vegan leather products in India, this article is for you. The intent of this article is to help simplify the process of finding vegan leather products in India.

What vegan leather means

But first, what is vegan leather? Vegan leather, also known as non leather, synthetic leather, artificial leather, faux leather, pleather, alternative leather is basically cruelty-free leather made from materials that are not of animal origin. So, where does vegan leather come from? What is vegan leather made of?

A majority of vegan non leather products is made from a versatile material, called polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Lately, successful attempts have been made at developing vegan leather from plants such as cactus, mushrooms, pineapple, kombucha scoby, even grapes! And of course, cotton has always been around in India in the form of those ubiquitous canvas shoes most of us have worn, especially in school.

Enter the fascinating world of vegan leather where no sentient beings are harmed, no living beings have to suffer and die!

Now, there are two often asked questions about vegan leather – is vegan leather sustainable? Is vegan leather durable? Let’s see.

Is vegan leather sustainable?

In order to answer this question, we at Vegan India! feel that one needs to expand the definition of sustainability. When we ask whether vegan leather is sustainable, what we are really asking is – is nonviolence (ahimsa) sustainable? In India, we are still in detention following the lockdown on account of Coronavirus – Covid 19. Let’s make the connection: Coronaviruses (MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, Covid-19) that stay comfortably inside non-human hosts would not have jumped into humans in a world without wet markets and animal farming. We believe that humans have no right whatsoever to kill animals and no amount of justification can support animal killing. As PETA investigations have revealed, animals marked for leather “endure all the horrors of factory farming—including extreme crowding and confinement, deprivation, and unanesthetized castration, branding, and tail-docking—as well as cruel treatment during transport and slaughter.”

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And, it is not only the animals who suffer and die for leather. A fact-finding report by human rights organization, India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN), has unearthed the deplorable and dangerous conditions under which the nearly three million tannery workers in India operate. According to this report, workers meet with frequent onsite accidents, such as drowning in toxic sludge; and suffer from asphyxia from toxic fumes, skin diseases, loss of eyesight, recurrent fever, eye inflammation, and cancer. To add to this, small manufacturing units, of which there are many, have no policy of social security cover and pension for the workers.

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An extremely important point we must remember is that animal skin is not usable unless it is treated using a process called “tanning.” Tanning needs to be done in order to do away with the blood, hair, flesh, bones, etc. sticking to the skin, then soften the skin, and eventually preserve the skin. Chemical-ridden tanning salts cause pollution and groundwater contamination. In India, parts of rivers Ganga, Palar, and Cauvery that border tanneries have been found to be heavily polluted. As Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) – India puts it, tanning is an “environmentalist’s nightmare.”

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We started out with the observation that the leather industry in India is among the top ten foreign exchange earners for the country. Let’s add another fact to this: India is the world’s second largest producer of footwear and leather garments as of January 2020. You can well get a sense by now at what expense this “growth” has happened.

We feel that it is no longer a question of whether or not vegan leather is sustainable but more a question of whether the leather industry that insults everything humane, is sustainable?

It is not.

And perhaps that is why the vegan leather industry is on the growth path, where humans are using their ingenuity to produce path breaking ways to develop leather from plant sources.

The Pulse of the Fashion Industry 2017 report makes the following observation in the context of synthetic versus animal skin leather:

“Synthetic leather has only a third of the environmental impact of cow leather. As Kering says in its 2015 EP&L statement, different leathers can have an over tenfold difference in environmental impact based on their type and origin, how the animal was raised, and how the tanning process took place. Switching to alternative materials can directly improve a product’s footprint.”

Is vegan leather durable? Vegan leather versus “real/genuine/regular” leather

Another question often on people’s mind is about the durability of vegan leather. So people ask questions like – does vegan leather last long? Are vegan leather bags durable? How long do vegan leather shoes last? Is vegan leather of good quality?

Durability, like sustainability is also a matter of perspective. If we think vegan leather lasts for lesser time than animal skin leather and thereby shun products from non leather sources, then it is only fair that we engage with questions such as – what right do we have to kill newborn babies (calves) for their skin when they have a natural life span of twenty years? And many, many more such questions with reference to the different varieties of animals whose lives are cruelly snuffed out by the animal leather industry.

Also, we need to re-define our benchmark for comparison. What are we comparing vegan leather with? With a 100% cruelty material?

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Vegan leather is for sure cheaper than animal skin leather. Since products such as shoes and bags are a necessity, we can have more than one so that they take longer to wear out. An animal skin shoe can last 15-20 years, which is about the same as the life span of the animal whose skin was peeled off to make the shoe.

Having said that, here’s the good news about PU leather in terms of its durability. PU leather is characteristically long lasting because before it started getting used to make personal and household products, it had already established its usage in the construction and automotive industries, and continues to be in demand in heavy duty engineering projects.

Tips for Buying Vegan Leather Products in India

According to Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC) – India, “the entire leather industry survives on the demand for leather footwear as it is the most common application for leather.” Footwear is everyone’s need.

Further, BWC throws light on the source of the materials used to make various parts of the shoe:

“The average leather footwear utilises several animals’ skins: tough cattle hide for the sole (although 90% soles of footwear made in India are of non-leather materials), thinner and differently tanned and processed calf leather (could be substituted with other skins like that of reptiles or even dogs) for the upper, still thinner goat skin for the inside lining and if a moulded rubber or polymer sole with heel has not been utilised, machine pressed leather fining made into a regenerated leather board for giving appropriate strength and flexibility could be placed in-between the outer and inner soles.”

An end product that is a mix of animal skin leather and vegan leather is obviously not vegan. In this context, we need to be aware of “split leather.” Split leather is leftover animal skin from the leather industry coated with PU leather. So, split leather is not vegan. Similarly, the body of a bag may be made with PU leather or say jute, but if the strap or handle is animal skin leather, the end product is not vegan.

If there are labels on the product, they usually indicate the different materials used for various parts of the product. Hence, we need to make our choices based on this information.

Here are three tips.

Tip 1 – buying vegan leather products: Check with companies/brands/manufacturers/shops you usually buy from

This is a very practical tip. Most likely, you will find an artificial leather selection with sources you usually purchase from. For example, Bata company, which is synonymous with “shoes” in India, with the largest number of stores, has a range of products in canvas and in synthetic PU leather. How do you identify synthetic leather products at any store?

You could look for labels, for example in the case of shoes, you can find labels that indicate the material used in the upper, inner, and sole. Or, simply ask the attendant. In most cases, they know and can guide you.

However, ensure you are not buying a product with a coating of PU leather on animal skin leather (already explained – split leather). In the context of such mixed material, BWC cautions, “if the material is very stiff, bubbles are visible, or looks like it will crack, it is leather.”

To help you get a sense of the different types of animal skins as well as the vegan materials used in the production of shoes, bags, wallets, belts, and so on, BWC has a comprehensive table containing the names of over 150 material types with description of the components of each. We encourage you to look up by clicking here.

BWC also extends tips on how to identify vegan leather from animal skin leather. We summarize it as follows:

• Read labels, if attached to the product.
• Smell the material – if animal leather, it will have a typical odour reminiscent of a dead animal.
• Inspect the edges and under-surface of the product by prying it open slightly. If it is synthetic leather, threads or a texture like woven material will be visible. In the case of animal leather, the texture will be very smooth.
• Inspect further. Synthetic leathers have an unbroken, uniform pattern over their entire surface. On the other hand, the pores or grains of animal leather varies in patches and looks similar to human skin. If the texture is very stiff, bubbles are visible, or looks like it may crack, it is pleather (plastic on leather) or bicast/bi-cast/bycast leather, which is a thick layer of plastic or PU leather applied to bonded/reconstituted animal skin leather – this is split leather, mentioned earlier.
• Apply a bit of saliva or pour little water on the product. If animal leather, the material will absorb moisture. However, on faux leather, the saliva will not “disappear” and the water will stay.

Another checking method that BWC suggests is to burn a corner of the product (obviously this is not to be performed at the store). The idea is that leather will burn without a flame. Along with, it will give off an odour of burning flesh, whereas all synthetic leathers will quickly catch fire because they are polymer based.

If you are not particularly looking out for synthetic vegan ethical leather to mimic leather for formal wear, you can turn your attention to the wide variety available in canvas material. Most of us have worn shoes made out of canvas at school and have experience of how comfortable they are. Nowadays, you get both coloful and printed canvas shoes in a large number of designs. Consider having more than one pair so you don’t need to wash frequently. They are inexpensive, as we all know. BWC puts out a heartfelt appeal to change perception and choose canvas:

“The humble canvas must be given the same importance as was given to khadi by Gandhiji, on the grounds of its simplicity, its inexpensiveness, its comfort, the fact that it is not a petroleum product. How can a piece of cloth be considered good, he asked, if it creates unemployment, impoverishment, enslavement to Manchester, however good it may look, however polished its appearance? Similarly, shouldn’t we also ask ourselves how a leather shoe can look good if great brutality has gone into its production? Shouldn’t we remind people who point out that canvas shoes look sloppy for formal occasions, that looks, which are subjective anyway, hide a lot of deeds, and that we consciously avoid leather and see nothing wrong in canvas. Sloppiness in looks lies in the eyes of the beholder. The leather wearer must be reminded that s/he should look beyond the appearance of the shoe and into the conscious decision that has motivated the canvas-shoe wearer. Such a rebuttal usually draws a very respectful response.”

We can similarly adopt products made from jute material.

Let’s make compassion our fashion statement. When we give up leather, we are not making a sacrifice, we are simply re-wiring ourselves and changing our narratives for a just and kind world.

Tip 2 – buying vegan leather products: Check with online stores

Buying from brick and mortar stores requires your effort and patience. Many long term vegans in India, including us, have put in the effort and continue doing so as it sends a signal in the market that synthetic leather is being actively sought. But suppose you want to spare yourself the effort, you could buy from online stores, such as Amazon India and others. The advantage in buying online is that each product is accompanied by a description that details the materials used for the different parts of the product.

The disadvantage in buying online is that you might feel less than satisfied when you actually receive the product. Hence, go for an online store that has a returns policy. If it takes more than one attempt to get what you need, it is still worth it. In such case, you would have spared yourself the effort of stepping out of your home to shop.

You could also focus on the user ratings and feedback given to each product. This is an important consideration in the online buying ecosystem. Insights from previous user experience may help provide satisfaction at the first attempt.

Tip 3 – buying vegan leather products: Check out vegan non leather brands

Vegan leather in fashion is the current trend. We see a number of Indian vegan brands emerge, each with an impressive collection of designer fashionable products. You can trust them completely. That’s the biggest advantage. Besides, in buying from vegan companies, you support the vegan non leather economy.

Some vegan leather bands in India are as follows: 

Aulive

A Big Indian Story

Baggit

Brokemate

Corkiza

Ecowings

Ethik

Gowma

Paio

Senso

The Alternate

The Monk Story

Veg Shoes

Zouk

All these vegan leather companies are driven by entrepreneurs committed to a cause. Each has an online store as well.

In summary

Note that these three tips apply to all non leather products: from shoes (sneakers, boots, hiking boots, heels, loafers, joggers, trainers), bags (handbags, laptop bags, laptop backpacks, make up bags, wallets, purses), clothing (belts, jackets, jumpsuits, jeans, trousers, vest, leggings, pants, shirts, gloves), watch straps, card holders, dairy, planner, notebook, phone case, key chains, jewellery, gift items, crafts, and other accessories to upholstery, furniture (couches, chairs, sofas), even seat covers and steering covers in cars!

In short, arm yourself with knowledge, read labels, ask and thereby exercise your right to information, buy online if you want to spare yourself the effort, and support vegan leather companies as much as possible.

With every purchase you make, you exercise your free will to make a difference.