Vegan leather

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.treehugger.com/dole-makes-s ... es-5196488

Dole Makes Sustainability Sweeter by Turning Pineapple Waste Into Textiles
Instead of animal hide, the vegan leather known as Piñatex is made from discarded pineapple leaves.

In the interest of sustainability, however, multinational pineapple peddler The Dole Sunshine Company has partnered with London-based textile maker Ananas Anam to turn pineapples into something truly unexpected: fabric. Specifically, it's a natural and vegan alternative to leather that Ananas Anam calls Piñatex.

Created by Ananas Anam founder and chief creative and innovation officer Dr. Carmen Hijosa, a leathergoods expert and self-described “ethical entrepreneur,” Piñatex is made from fiber extracted from the waste leaves of pineapples. A natural byproduct of existing pineapple harvest, the leaves are collected in bundles, then processed using semi-automatic machines that extract long fibers that are subsequently washed and dried either in the sun or in drying ovens. Next, the fibers are stripped of impurities to produce a fluffy material that’s mixed with a corn-based polylactic acid to create Piñafelt, a non-woven mesh that, with additional processing, eventually becomes Piñatex.

The final product—which looks and feels just like leather—is used in clothing, accessories, and upholstery sold by more than 1,000 brands around the world, including Nike, Hugo Boss, H&M, and Paul Smith, not to mention the Hilton Hotel London Bankside, which used Piñatex to create what it says is the world’s first vegan hotel suite.

[AndyinPA]

That made me curious about a vegan bag I bought a few years ago in Chicago. It's by Pixie Mood. I looked it up for the first time after reading this to see if it was made out of pineapple leaves, but it's made out of recycled plastic bottles. It's bigger than I usually carry, so not for every day. I have a lot of leather bags, and if I hadn't bought it myself knowing that it was vegan leather, I would never know. I love the bag, but I mostly use it for train travel. It's a big loose tote with a smaller zipper bag inside. I'd probably love to have one of their cross-body bags, but I really don't need one.

[sugar magnolia]

There are some good products out there, but this, as with other labels, drives me absolutely nuts. It's either vegan, or it's leather. It can't be both. Same with oat, soy, etc "milk" and plat-based "meat." And cutting up your curtains to make a shirt isn't "re-cycling" either.

[Maybenaut]

There are some good products out there, but this, as with other labels, drives me absolutely nuts. It's either vegan, or it's leather. It can't be both. Same with oat, soy, etc "milk" and plat-based "meat." And cutting up your curtains to make a shirt isn't "re-cycling" either.

I get the either/or with vegan/leather. And I understand the “milk” thing. But why isn’t cutting up curtains to make a shirt recycling?

[sugar magnolia]

There are some good products out there, but this, as with other labels, drives me absolutely nuts. It's either vegan, or it's leather. It can't be both. Same with oat, soy, etc "milk" and plat-based "meat." And cutting up your curtains to make a shirt isn't "re-cycling" either.

I get the either/or with vegan/leather. And I understand the “milk” thing. But why isn’t cutting up curtains to make a shirt recycling?

Recycling involves breaking down the original product to reuse it in the manufacturing process, like melting down drink cans or crushing glass, and upcycling is reusing the original product in a new way like turning curtains into a shirt. People also say they have "recycled" something when they are actually repurposing, like making a kitchen island out of a dresser without destroying the original product. Shredding denim jeans to make insulation is recycling, cutting them up to make purses is up-cycling.

We all have our little personal bugaboos, and this is mine. Not only am I active in the re- up-cycle sphere, and it makes me crazy to hear people who are supposed to know better use the terminology incorrectly, but I have a reaction to soy hidden in food. As the plant-based foods are becoming more common, and I'm getting older, it's becoming harder and harder to differentiate sometimes. My husband bought some sausage the other day that was plant-based and I had already opened it to use before either one of us noticed the little green leaf on the package that said "plant based" product. Other than that, the packaging was identical to our usual. Eating that much soy at one time would have turned me into even more of a raging bitch than I normally am.

[Maybenaut]

We do indeed all have our bugaboos. Thanks for the clarification!

That sucks about soy. It’s in *everything*.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Sugar, thanks for the info about repurposing versus recyclng. So, what should the name of this thread be? Plant textiles?

[bill_g]

I don't have a problem with it being called vegan leather. It explains it in the simplest possible terms. Perhaps not perfectly correct, but close enough to give people an idea what it looks like, and what the possible applications could be. The technical explanation that's it's woven felted fabric can come later ... and you'll probably have to explain felted to some portion of the audience too.

And if you really want to get deeper, there will have to be the ethical discussion of the exploitation of the population needed to service the massive pineapple plantations required to provide the raw materials for the market created by this invention. I'm just saying. And Big Pineapple doesn't want us going there.

[sugar magnolia]

I don't have a problem with it being called vegan leather. It explains it in the simplest possible terms. Perhaps not perfectly correct, but close enough to give people an idea what it looks like, and what the possible applications could be. The technical explanation that's it's woven felted fabric can come later ... and you'll probably have to explain felted to some portion of the audience too.

And if you really want to get deeper, there will have to be the ethical discussion of the exploitation of the population needed to service the massive pineapple plantations required to provide the raw materials for the market created by this invention. I'm just saying. And Big Pineapple doesn't want us going there.

Actually, the most common vegan leather is polyvinyl chloride, or plastic. Hence the original "pleather" name for it. Even the pineapple leaf pleather only uses the fibers for the substrate, which is combined with a polyester to produce the final product. Any type of pleather, in contrast to real leather, is not biodegradable either, which matters when you consider the longevity of use. Quality leather remains usable longer than faux leather.

[bill_g]

Actually, the most common vegan leather is polyvinyl chloride, or plastic. Hence the original "pleather" name for it. Even the pineapple leaf pleather only uses the fibers for the substrate, which is combined with a polyester to produce the final product. Any type of pleather, in contrast to real leather, is not biodegradable either, which matters when you consider the longevity of use. Quality leather remains usable longer than faux leather.

Plushies!!!!

A pleasing plethora of pleasant plushies.

[bob]

[Patagoniagirl]

Plant based meat may not be as good for you as you might believe. This article is based on a small study, but is nonetheless something to consider.

https://www.nutritioninsight.com/news/h ... flags.html

[Suranis]

Only interested in this stuff if its made from real Vegans.

[AndyinPA]

[Mr brolin]

One will admit to a certain degree of enjoyment in pointing out to them the rather frequent hypocrisies of militant vegans

Vegan leather....primary constituents in the vast majority are either polyurethane or polyvinyl chloride, both products which when incorporated into vegan leather render it non biodegradable, effectively non recyclable. Oh and lets not forget that PU and PVC are products of the petrochemical industry, high energy requirements, unpleasant and toxic chemicals to manufacture as well as residues of same. Now leather is a byproduct of an organic process, has a longer use lifespan with care than any vegan leather product and is biodegradable

Don't get me started on vegan food products and their inflated carbon footprint. Classic example being vegan cheese, made in main from nuts or nut based products, yet rarely locally sourced, almost always a product than is imported by air freight and in the cases of some ingredients from South American in particular from cleared sensitive habitats.

As for the "ethically sourced" unbleached cotton T and shorts they are wearing, cotton production leads to substantial environmental degradation, massive water consumption and the industry consumes approximately 10% of global pesticide production and 25% of global insecticide production whilst consuming between 10 and 20 thousand litres of water per kg of cotton production.

[pipistrelle]

Only interested in this stuff if its made from real Vegans.

No way; they're too thin-skinned.

[AndyinPA]

My son-in-law is vegan. 'Nuf said.