Commissioned by Cotance (The European Confederation of Tanners), FILK (an independent Research Institute for Leather and Synthetic Materials) has conducted a study to compare the 9 most commonly “heralded” alternatives to leather and tested them on a range of metrics against the real thing.
The results speak for themselves.
Of particular interest is the material known as “Noani”. This material is stamped as “Vegan” and as “PETA approved” but actually contains leather-board within its 3 different materials composition. Is this ethical and what is the sustainability impact of those 3 different materials when added together? Each of them must have some production impact, plus then the additional impact of bonding them together?
Another interesting finding is that some of the alternatives were also shown to contain harmful chemistry.
The materials were tested for:
- Composition and Structure
- Touch and Feel Properties
- Thickness
- Tensile Strength & Tear Strength
- Flex Resistance
- Water Vapor Permeability & Water Vapor Absorption
- Harmful Substances
You can access the report here: