Indeed, this is an indirect and unintended give-and-take, not less or little relevant though. Speaking from the virtual columns of Fashion United, Claudia Pievani, Miomojo, a vegan fashion Lombard brand, has come up with on leather ridiculous issue: “There are no more excuses to make use of it”. May we ask why? Simply because one can find on the market a large supply of alternative materials, made from cactus, marc and some more matrices.
Well, in our opinion, like we said earlier, such statement is as ridiculous as oversimplified. Patagonia, a brand which cannot be accused of being unconscientious in terms of sustainability, has sent a response to that provocative statement.
Good morning world
It has been GQ to tell about Patagonia’s project. The brand, to make a long story short, has committed to making use of buffalo hides, which a North American partner rears in South Dakota for their meat.
As a result of that partnership, they made, from a pragmatic point of view, a model of outdoor small boots, while, from a value point of view, they designed “a type of shoes that can help rescue the planet”. For the records, slaughtered cattle hides were buried so far, therefore they got wasted. Here is the sustainable approach Patagonia is extremely proud of: they recycle a scrap and subsequently transform it into a quality product.
A ridiculous issue on leather
Back to Pievani’s statement, we could reply by saying something in several ways. Why shall we use hides and leather? Because their processing rests on an extremely valuable manufacture, because we must safeguard a specific savoir faire, because they are a top-notch asset of made in Italy. Yet, someone could consider these remarks as commercial and biased.
The best response, especially for those who care about green economy, is the one provided by Patagonia: because leather tanning is circular and environmentally friendly. Recycling buffalo hides is not something exceptional: it is normal. Drums have always taken, all over the world, a by-product from the livestock and farming industry, which would be otherwise discarded in a landfill.
This is “the excuse” Pievani is looking for. We already deal with raw hides as food business runs along a track which is disconnected from the fashion one: it is up to us to decide whether we want to dispose of them or recycle and reuse them. Leather tanning has chosen the second option.
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