Hi Umbra,
As a devoted vegetarian, I try to make it a point to avoid leather footwear. However, after too many hours of deep thought on the subject, I am now conflicted about the environmental ramifications of my choice to buy processed petroleum shoes, i.e., pleather. Leather is, after all, a natural material; pleather is plastic. So is it better for the environment to put aside my veggie ethics in favor of a natural material, even if it took loads of petroleum to grow the corn that fed the cow? Or are the plastic materials a better use of our natural resources?
KC Needs New Boots
Hauppauge, N.Y.
Dearest KC,
I have now joined you in too many hours of deep thought on this subject. Sadly, I could not find a simple answer out there in Life Cycle Analysis Land, and this leads me to believe that The Issue Is Complicated. Instead of an easy answer, we may just have to adopt some harm-reduction techniques.
Control your inner Imelda.
Photo: iStockphoto
Shoes are difficult. They have short life spans in general, especially in wealthier countries, because they are a fashion item -- wealthy people in wealthy nations throw away millions of shoes every year. Environmentalism on the shoe frontier involves not only choosing which items to buy, but cleaning up places where materials are manufactured, such as tanneries; reducing the use of toxic materials, such as vinyl; and finding a way to keep shoes out of the waste stream. There are interesting efforts to keep shoes out of landfills, including recycling programs and efforts toward biodegradability. Shoe reuse is of course a good idea, but there is also a concern about piles of donated shoes eventually migrating to poorer nations, where they become someone else's landfill problem.
Shoes are usually a mix of many materials: 40 materials in a typical shoe, don't you know. Pollutants derived from the making of a shoe could include dioxin, volatile organic compounds, solvents, chromium, hide waste effluent, and isocyanates. If you purchase synthetic shoes, you avoid the chromium and hide waste effluent, and reduce the market for animal hides. But it is likely that you are then increasing the market for vinyl, and contributing to the production of dioxin. Are pollutants affiliated with the tanning industry worse per shoe than dioxins from vinyl? Maybe so. But I cannot confirm this slight guess with any data, so let's move on to harm-reduction techniques.
Very simply, I would suggest looking about for shoes that are marketed as "green" or "environmentally friendly," and then examining the claims for substantiation. Patagonia is of course developing a line of such shoes, with various natural rubbers and leathers from factories certified by an independent agency, and we just wrote about the vegan line endorsed by Natalie Portman. Those are just two examples. Europe now has an eco-label scheme with a shoe category, but when I checked there was no way to buy the shoes direct from the dealers. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals provides a "cruelty-free" clothing list; obviously the shoes therein are leather-free, and most of the materials are listed, so it may be possible to avoid vinyl. It looks as if hemp is making footie inroads. Used shoes may be an option, too, and needless to say will be much cheaper than eco-shoes -- and I don't think they carry the same political weight as secondhand fur.
The second aspect of our shoe carefulness is to rein in any inner Imelda Marcos and limit our new shoe purchases. We should also dispose of our unwanted shoes carefully, perhaps giving them to the Nike Reuse a Shoe program if feasible, or passing them on to a thrift store.
Solefully,
Umbra
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Comments
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ljhilson Posted 2:59 am
23 Jan 2008
I'm grateful for the discussion of material and options for care of the environmental, but beware the used shoe. Buy your eco-friendly shoe, and wear it yourself until it falls apart!
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meganstoj Posted 4:18 am
23 Jan 2008
http://www.mooshoes.com - for cute vegan shoes and other products, without Natalie Portman's hefty price tag.
http://www.wornagain.co.uk - Terra Planna's recycled Worn Again shoe line boasts innovative style and function, and are made from a range of goods like recycled jeans, tires, and seatbelts.
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swan Posted 4:26 am
23 Jan 2008
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earthsong Posted 4:50 am
23 Jan 2008
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Ann Burruss Posted 4:54 am
23 Jan 2008
http://www.simpleshoes.com/index.aspx
http://www.sierratradingpost.com/
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amc89 Posted 4:55 am
23 Jan 2008
So to me, it's a matter of:
Pleather: the materials used and production process cause pollution
Leather: the materials used and production process cause pollution AND animal suffering
Thus I think the better choice, if those are your only choices, is pleather.
But as Umbra pointed out, our choices are not just between leather and pleather. There's all types of non-animal, eco-friendly materials that are being discovered by designers and we should be supporting their efforts. Wasn't Ed Begley Junior spotted wearing shoes made from recycled tires lately? That's the kind of creativity needed in the fashion world. There's no reason to use environmentally harmful materials like vinyl or to kill cows when there's other materials we can be utilizing.
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rraimo Posted 5:01 am
23 Jan 2008
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Lesleycarol Posted 7:36 am
23 Jan 2008
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zibby Posted 7:49 am
23 Jan 2008
It's a community of folks sharing leads on where to find stylish, vegan and eco-friendly clothes. It's not always perfect, but it's a start.
Thanks Umbra!
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jareddame Posted 10:02 am
23 Jan 2008
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madhavisb Posted 6:25 pm
23 Jan 2008
Ahimsa Leather is shoes made from hide that is removed from an animal that died naturally. Madhavi Sanghamitra
http://www.copperwiki.org
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witmol Posted 8:16 pm
23 Jan 2008
Personally, I find it difficult to buy shoes that I like and that fit, even in regular stores, so I tend to buy good quality shoes and then resole them when they wear down.
Nothing has been kinder to my feet than leather so if anyone can find me a local (Sydney, Australia) store that sells an eco-friendlier alternative of the same comfort and quality, please post here. I don't really think air mail order is going to help the planet.
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kdrex Posted 12:21 am
24 Jan 2008
Thanks.
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dayla2000 Posted 2:04 am
24 Jan 2008
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sycamore Posted 10:09 am
25 Jan 2008
As for the fear that cattle are being killed to support the shoe industry that does not happen. Cattle are killed for the meat and the leather is a by product. The farmer gets nothing for the hide of the animal. If the leather was not being used in shoes and other products it would be wasted. The butchery waste from the slaughtering of animals is used in many things. The blood and bones become blood and bone meal. This is used instead of chemical fertilizers to grow the organic vegetables that our vegan friends consume.
Man is an omnivore and meat is a natural part of our diet. A meatless diet is unnatural in human beings. I respect my vegan friend's right to choose to live their life as they see fit but don't try to take the moral high ground. There is nothing moral about denying ones nature. There is such a thing as the "Circle of Life" (even before Disney) we are a part of that circle which includes death. Everything on this planet lives off of some other form of life. Cattle consume only certain types of plants and we consume cattle.
Trying to live a sustainable life and farming organically in Ohio.
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catalinkaser Posted 3:03 am
29 Jan 2008
What about how long the product lasts? Do leather shoes last longer than vinyl or hemp or whatever? Surely that should be a factor in considering which choice has more impact.
The discussion seems to be about the upper part of the shoes, without regard to different types of soles. I'd like to know more about what to look for in that area too.
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kristofeichenlaub Posted 10:45 am
29 Jan 2008
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kristofeichenlaub Posted 10:56 am
29 Jan 2008
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amc89 Posted 5:32 am
30 Jan 2008
Sycamore: "The farmer gets nothing for the hide of the animal." This is absolutely not true. Farmers would not trade in leather and other cattle by-products if these products did not bring them more profit. The sale of leather makes the raising of cows more profitable, thus giving the farmer an incentive to raise even more cows. How much cattle farmers make from the leather trade varies depending on the quality of the leather compared to the quality of the meat, but I've seen estimates ranging from 10%-50%.
Also, most cows in the US are currently being fed corn.
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Gatta Posted 10:26 am
30 Jan 2008
One very good investment I've found is Ugg boots. They wear for ages if you get them a size larger than your regular shoe size (they're very soft sheepskin, so if you don't get them large enough, your toe eventually comes through the end). They're like going barefoot, only your feet are warm.
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sycamore Posted 2:04 pm
30 Jan 2008
Maybe I should been more detailed in my explanation of the actual process by which the farmer or feed-lot operator sells the cattle. There are two ways cattle are sold. Cattle are either sold on the hoof, also known as live weight and on the rail which is the slaughter weight. The slaughter weight is determined after the cow has been killed and the hide and all non-edible parts have been removed. You have probably seen movies where sides of beef were hanging in a cold room. In either way the farmer has passed ownership of the cow long before the quality of the hide is determined. The trading of cow hides and other cattle by-products is not in the hands of farmers. The last time the farmer sees his cattle is as it goes through the sale ring at the local stock yard.
Your information on the leather trade and hide value is not really important to the farmer because he has no direct connection to the after slaughter product processing.
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ecopeace Posted 3:42 am
06 Feb 2008
http://www.biancaroseshoes.com/category.asp?catid=6451&am ...
Their website is user friendly and they have great service.
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