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“None Of Your Clothing Is Cruelty-Free”: Person Bursts The Myth Of Ethical Consumption Under Capitalism
According to a study by James Poore, an environmental researcher at the University of Oxford, the adoption of Veganuary (an annual challenge that promotes and educates about veganism by encouraging people to follow a vegan lifestyle for the month of January) in the UK alone is expected to have saved the atmosphere from the equivalent production of CO2 as 450,000 flights from London to Berlin, as well as 2.5 million litres (660,430 gallons) of water.
And that’s the impact of just 31 days. A more permanent adoption of veganism could, according to another study from the same university, be the “single biggest way” to reduce our impact on the environment, lowering an individual’s carbon footprint by 73 percent.
Such studies inspire people to not only adopt a vegan diet but change their entire lifestyle as well, including their fashion choices.
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Sustainable fashion is on the increase (searches are up 75 percent year on year, according to global fashion search engine Lyst) and brands are searching for vegan alternatives in an attempt to deliver on this demand.
However, is vegan leather actually a cure for Earth? Not everyone thinks so.
While it can be made from more natural resources like pineapple leaves, cork, and apple peels, it is most often produced from two different plastic polymers; polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which are so popular due to their wrinkled texture, giving the effect of real leather, according to PETA.
A recent Twitter thread by user Shepherd dives deeper into the topic, raising the question: Is ethical consumption possible under capitalism at all?
Image credits: iamdaniela
Image credits: NeolithicSheep
Image credits: NeolithicSheep
Image credits: NeolithicSheep
Image credits: Marie
Image credits: NeolithicSheep
Image credits: NeolithicSheep
Image credits: NeolithicSheep
Image credits: NeolithicSheep
Image credits: NeolithicSheep
Here’s what other people said on the issue
Image credits: Nonafold
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Image credits: mortuarymann
Image credits: Cerberuswaltz
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Image credits: jenncosmos
What do you think ?
MiriPanda 4 years ago (edited)
One of the vegan arguments is that sheep farmers would cruelly rip the wool including skin off of the animals, basically skinning them alive. As if farmers would deliberately kill their livelyhood... This is about as intelligent as saying farmers kill their cows every morning in order to get to the milk...
Amelie C 4 years ago
Also, leather lasts far longer than PVC. I had some PVC boots, lasted about a year, but leather boots can last more like 20 years. I think that it is far more sustainable to use a byproduct of the meat industry (that'll keep going for a good while yet), than plastic that needs replacing more often, and does not biodegrade.
Iggy 4 years ago
And people can also get a lot of second-hand leather goods, if they don't want to buy new leather goods.
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Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
My brother has a genuine leather jacket and he is a vegan. He has had it since before he became vegan but he won't throw it away coz it just wastes the animal. He may as well keep it since it has already been purchased, so is no longer contributing to the leather industry. He won't donate it coz why should he get rid of a perfectly good jacket that again has already been made, been paid for etc so why does it matter who wears it. I hope I'm making sense. He won't go out and buy leather anymore.
DC 4 years ago
That's very reasonable and is the approach most vegans I know chose, too. Throwing stuff away won't help anything, while not buying it anymore sure does what it aims at.
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MiriPanda 4 years ago (edited)
One of the vegan arguments is that sheep farmers would cruelly rip the wool including skin off of the animals, basically skinning them alive. As if farmers would deliberately kill their livelyhood... This is about as intelligent as saying farmers kill their cows every morning in order to get to the milk...
Amelie C 4 years ago
Also, leather lasts far longer than PVC. I had some PVC boots, lasted about a year, but leather boots can last more like 20 years. I think that it is far more sustainable to use a byproduct of the meat industry (that'll keep going for a good while yet), than plastic that needs replacing more often, and does not biodegrade.
Iggy 4 years ago
And people can also get a lot of second-hand leather goods, if they don't want to buy new leather goods.
Load More Replies... Foxxy (The Original) 4 years ago (edited)
My brother has a genuine leather jacket and he is a vegan. He has had it since before he became vegan but he won't throw it away coz it just wastes the animal. He may as well keep it since it has already been purchased, so is no longer contributing to the leather industry. He won't donate it coz why should he get rid of a perfectly good jacket that again has already been made, been paid for etc so why does it matter who wears it. I hope I'm making sense. He won't go out and buy leather anymore.
DC 4 years ago
That's very reasonable and is the approach most vegans I know chose, too. Throwing stuff away won't help anything, while not buying it anymore sure does what it aims at.
Load More Replies...
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