Hey guys!
I’m so glad to see the response from Friday’s blogpost announcing my partnership with Votch. Click here if you haven’t read it yet! It was one of my favourite days ever, and I am so pleased with where this blog is heading. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram if you don’t already at @marta_canga!
Giving up leather is a topic I already wrote a blog post on right here. And for good reason, since the leather industry is not actually a byproduct of the meat industry, and it is actually quite polluting. Leather production is an inefficient use of water: a cow can drink up to 127 litres a day. Leather production uses large volumes of water in raising and then slaughtering the animal, to then start the tanning process. Water scarcity effects 4 out of 10 people on our planet, and leather tanning is mostly sourced in developing countries with limited access to water. Plus, leather production puts people at risk due to the use of harmful chemicals which are disposed into contaminated water, due to unsafe disposal.
On average, a cow will provide 18 pairs of leather shoes and each pair of shoes is accountable for the use of over 1.4 million litres of water. This astounding figure includes the water used to rear and slaughter the cow and to process the hide into leather.
I’m not going to delve much into the actual cruelty of the topic though, since I feel like I explained it all in a lot of detail in the post I linked above (see here if you didn’t click through). Instead, I just want to show you some leather alternatives I have really enjoying wearing for the past two months, and hopefully, convince you that vegan fashion is not only hemp cotton and tie-dye T-shirts!
This outfit incorporates a faux leather jacket from Zara I purchased probably four years ago. I still wear it, I still love it, and even though it’s not Peta certified, I still think it looks awesome for a rock and roll vibe. I feel really good when I’m wearing black, and the fact of knowing that this jacket looks equally stylish as if it were actual leather, makes me very happy. But it’s better because no cows had to die for it!
Moving on to my bag, this one is from LaBante London, a brand that I discovered when turned fully vegan, and this bag has been my saviour since I got it in March. I discovered them over Christmas when my sisters gave me the lovely Serin bag as I explained here, but this luggage-style bag is heaven for girls like me who need their entire apartment in compact size: wallet, umbrella, bits and bobs of makeup or pills, iPod, iPhone, and sometimes iPad… And food and water, of course! LaBante is a PETA approved vegan company that specialises in bags and jewellery made ethically, and with the environment in mind. The linings of the Demi bag that I am wearing are made with recycled polyester as well.
Shoes are from Beyond Skin, another UK brand that I really like and talked about here. Beyond Skin is an ethical footwear brand, that is passionate about creating shoes where no humans and animals were harmed during the making of these gorgeous vegan shoes, and they offer 1% of the profits to grass-root environmental and social projects. The factories are located in my homeland, Spain, and the company is based in Brighton.
Their shoes are made with 100% recycled PU lining, and their synthetic leathers are made from cotton-backed polyurethane (PU) from Italy. PU, they say, is similar to PVC leatherette, but unlike PVC it’s much less harmful to the environment, as PVC contains chlorine. The insoles of the shoes are made with almost 70% of recycled cardboard, and the soles with almost 70% of recycled rubber resin.
For me, investing in good quality clothing that has a minimal environmental impact and that it doesn’t hurt the animals is something that I feel confident and comfortable in, knowing that I’m already doing my best to improve the environmental impact of human consumer behaviour. It’s baby steps, and it’s about budget too. But hopefully you have enjoyed this blog post, and I will be sharing more content very soon.
I WAS WEARING:
ZARA FAUX LEATHER JACKET
OASIS TENCEL DENIM SHIRT
TOPSHOP JAMIE JEANS
LABANTE DEMI BAG
BEYOND SKIN CARA SHOES
With love,
