"Vegan leather" has become a must-have alternative to animal hide for many carmakers keen to promote their sustainable credentials, especially in electric cars.
But some have questioned the sense of replacing natural upholstery materials with plastics made from fossil fuel. Polestar did just that at the launch of its 3 luxury SUV last year, which still offers a leather option.
And the leather industry as a whole is now pushing back. Thirty signatories from international leather companies, including an automotive group called One 4 Leather, is calling on the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28, November 30-Deceember12) to "recognise the importance of natural materials, particularly leather, in addressing the challenges of man-made climate change".
"The leather industry is seeking to recognise the cyclical, climate-efficient nature of natural fibres and their potential to positively contribute to reducing climate impacts," says One 4 Leather.
It notes that leather encourages re-use of materials and fits with the more sustainable "slow fashion" ethos. It has signed a "leather manifesto" with other companies.
The organisation says it wants to challenge assumptions by dispelling myths about the plastic-based alternatives to genuine leather: “Leather is a by-product of the meat and dairy industry, as confirmed by the World Wildlife Federation (WWF); no cattle are bred for hides.
"In fact, with global beef consumption rising, the leather industry is pivotal, upcycling hides that would otherwise become landfill where they would emit hundreds of tones of methane each year.”
The manifesto states: “Leather offers an opportunity to make the best use of the resources available and to do so without diminishing them or causing harm to the environment. There are currently huge volumes of readily available hides and skins going unused which could be transformed into sustainable leather, replacing fossil fuel-derived synthetic alternatives, with the additional emissions and impacts those entail.”
One 4 Leather is comprised of a number of automotive leather manufacturers and leather chemical companies. It's the only car-industry signatory of the manifesto being submitted to COP28.