behind the scenes
Seeing a nice leather bag or a real fur coat is nice, right? But do someone think about their real cost? I don’t mean the ‘real price’, I mean the real cost it affects to the environment and also people’s lives who lives nearby and makes it possible for you to wear that $2000 worth coat…
I could easily question the word ‘worth’ though…
I guess nobody really thinks about it. I had the possibility to learn a lot from ‘leather and fur’ elective and it made me think about this industry and I was damn annoyed. I had to calm my feelings down before writing anything down.
Do you know anything about Hazaribagh? It is in India and there are men, women and even kids (from 11 years old) working in tanneries (it is part of the leather making process). They are working in non-humane ways and they have no insurance if something happens to them - and let me tell you, everyday happens something.
Hazaribagh is on the list of the 10 most toxic places on Earth, next to Chernobyl. Insane, isn’t it? People, even kids are working there. For what?! For your damn Gucci, Prada or even Chanel bag.
Not to mention the animals and the way they are treated.
Now you’re thinking, okay - that is really bad, but is there ‘fake’ leather. It’s for sure better. So, I’ll use that one instead of the real to make the world a better place. To be honest it won’t be as durable and long-lasting, but it’s better to the environment.
It was my idea as well. If it is vegan, or fake leather, it should be good, right? Well.. not really.
The real and fake/vegan leather has kind of the same bad impacts. Everybody know that the fake leather comes from PVC, which is the most toxic plastic and you can’t really avoid it, for the reason that everybody use it.
Finding alternatives
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Salvatore Ferragamo did a collection in 2016 from orange fibres. You read it correctly… Orange. And. It. Was. Awesome. There are other alternatives like mushrooms, pineapple leftovers even cork. Use them and be more aware of what you are buying, and know exactly where it is come from…
xx, A.
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