Fashion is a multibillion-dollar global industry involved in the business of making and selling clothes. It encompasses the design, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, selling, advertising, and promotion of apparel of all types, from everyday clothing to haute couture.
There’s a growing demand among consumers for clothing to be
environmentally friendly, both in the components it is made of and during the manufacturing process. But some companies engage in “greenwashing,” a practice that companies use to appear more sustainable than they actually are. This can be done by making false claims or being intentionally vague with facts.
Our goal is for apparel and accessories manufacturers to transparently label the materials used in the clothing they sell. Both real leather and synthetic leather should be clearly and accurately labeled. To help us achieve this goal, we are asking consumers around the world to inspect the label whenever they are shopping for clothing.
By doing so, we hope that consumers will help us drive meaningful change in order to create a more transparent marketplace in the apparel industry.
Some of the specific names for fake leather materials used in making clothing include:
Ask the clothing vendor what material was used.
When shopping for clothes, always check the label. If it’s real leather, the label will read, “100% real leather,” “genuine leather,” or “full/top grain leather.” If the label says “man-made material,” it’s synthetic, and probably made from polyurethane (PU) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
If you’re still not sure, put it back on the rack! There’s plenty of clothing choices out there!
While vegan leather is often a name given to any type of fake leather, true
vegan leather mimics real leather but does not contain any animal products.
In fact, it’s not leather at all – it’s a synthetic material mixed with plant fibers
to look like animal leather.
The problem is that a wide variety of chemicals and fossil fuels are used to
make vegan leather, many of which are harmful to both people and the
environment. But even vegan leather made from pineapple leaf fibers,
mushrooms, apple skins or grapes have a polyurethane (PU) coating, which are used to
make the product more durable.
The label “vegan leather” leads people to believe that it is an environmentally
friendly alternative to cowhide, but the materials used to make it are not
always sustainable.
