We have been seeing people wearing fashionable leather jackets and leather shoes for ages, but we had never thought of the leather industry’s impact. The leather industry itself can toll on the climatic changes which we are currently facing.
The leather industry has done significant damage to greenhouse gas and has also increased the level of emissions.
Recently, tools have been used to assess and track the damage caused because of the leather industry. In the survey and study conducted, the actual leather industry data was used as a base to compare various aspects.
The leather industry’s marketing strategies showcase leather as a sustainable by-product. This is the sole main reason, which has turned into a colossal misconception among all the ordinary people and fashion professionals.
Leather is definitely not a by-product.
The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation’s leather panel argues that the livestock industry would remain unaffected if leather industry sales become zero. Similarly, the cattle industry either won’t be affected by the downturn of the leather industry. And by these arguments, they are claiming that animal husbandry is nowhere related to the leather industry. So, the leather industry is not involving any procedure or anything in the process, giving rise to the greenhouse effect.
This is definitely a flawed argument.
This is the side which the leather industry wants to showcase, keep their products for sale in the market, and maintain the right name, fame, and reputation among people and maintain the customers.
On the other hand, the slaughterhouses and the meat industry had reported their multi-million dollar losses when the leather skins were not selling due to the rise in the number of leather alternatives available in the market.
Mostly the newborn male calves are reared for their skin. The female cows, which can become pregnant and can produce milk, are valued. And because of the same reason male calves are slaughtered, as they are hard of any use in the future, they won’t give them much return as they can’t produce milk.
And when the skin of male calves are taken for sale, the dairy products earn huge profit. And when the sale of the leather industry decreases, the dairy industry suffers huge losses.
So, due to this reason, the leather industry is directly linked to animal farming, which in turn is wholly related to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions. So, this is how the entire leather industry chain runs and is dependent on one another.
So, if we want to protect our planet, we must stop purchasing leather products. This will reduce the sales of leather, which will directly reduce the number of reared animals for the products.
So, it is on us that do we still need to believe in the myth that leather is created from a by-product, or we want to relate with the facts and pieces of evidence.