I love leather. Leather armchairs, leather carseats, leather purses, leather belts, leather coats and leather shoes. The way it smells, like a pasture in the sun. Its nubby smoothness beneath my fingertips. The way it improves with age, fading and softening. Its sturdiness. Its colors, and textures.
I love the way, when I dropped my scooter taking a corner too quickly, I got a scraped elbow instead of a broken arm, thanks to my leather jacket. I love the way our Mercury Villager kept smelling good after ten years of kids spilling milk and dropping lollipops. I can smell leather upholstery in a car from half a block away. I am so glad I bought my Fusion before I learned anything about the leather industry. Love, love, love those sand-colored leather seats.
I've been reading a 2,000-page novel called A Suitable Boy, which takes place in India in the 1950s. Some of the characters work in the shoe industry. The description of the tanning neighborhoods are stomach-turning: the smell, the noise, the contamination. The illnesses of the children who live nearby. Sadly, it appears that the tanning industry, especially in countries with fewer regulations like India, is still extremely damaging to the environment and the health of its workers and their families.
I was not able to find any reliable information about the treatment of animals in the production of leather. There was, of course, a diatribe from PETA with a healthy dose of xenophobia (your shoes might be cat and dog skins imported from China!). Another equally inflammatory diatribe against PETA's by a non-profit organization apparently funded by the restaurant industry.
I'm giving away a few little bags and purses, but I'll keep anything leather. Tanning does undoubtedly require the use of toxic chemicals, and those toxic chemicals are being released into water systems around the world. I'll hang onto my leather stuff, so I won't have to buy anything new in the future.
Still, leather's ecofootprint compared with other products is not clear, particularly when those other products must be replaced more often. Because one thing is certain: leather is durable. I bought this backpack purse a little over a year ago, in hopes that it would alleviate shoulder pain. The fake leather is already cracking and flaking; I don't feel comfortable carrying it to work any more. To replace it, I bought a smaller leather bag used at the Thrift Shop. It looks new. The leather coat that saved my arm? I bought it at a garage sale 15 years ago and wear it often. It, too, looks new.
Another certainty: buying used = zero guilt.
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