Maybe There's No Eco-Fur So How About Green Suede
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 08. 1.08
TreeHuggers, being a discerning lot, when recently polled came down in a clear majority against the concept of "eco-fur" when we wrote first about a chinchilla/polyester jacket from designer Chie Imai, and then about an expensive line of pillows and throws made from the skins of invasive possums wreaking havoc in New Zealand.
Green suede, no shoes
So there's probably little hope trying to persuade these same gentle readers that there's such a thing as green suede. But let's just give it a try. Bernardo, a clothing line based in New York City, is launching a line of suede garments to Nordstrom stores next week. Priced at between $168 - $198, Bernardo's suede jackets, in a number of styles such as a bomber, a trench and a kind of zippered poncho, are claimed by the company to be machine washable (and dryer-safe) and eco-friendly.
Biodegradable tanning agents
Bernardo uses pig skin for its suede from just a single company, Hormel Foods (yup, originators of SPAM) which breeds only U.S. animals and supposedly treats its pigs humanely. Once Bernardo gets the skins, they use biodegradable tanning agents, dyes, and finishes (eschewing the use of chrome in tanning means some of the colors can be a little less vibrant, the company says) at the IUV tannery in Slovenia. Certified by Britain's The Soil Association, the IUV tannery process is also "verified" by the British Leather Council. The solid waste from the process is made into fertilizer, the water is put through treatment so that it leaves the factory as drinkable. Nut, coconut and bone buttons are used on the jackets as well as organic cotton for trim, and the hang tags are made from a "residual" of the tanning process and then embedded with California poppy seeds.
The company said the jackets are produced at factories enforcing ethical, no-child-labor policies. Each of the Bernardo jackets will have an ID number on the hang tag so that a purchaser can track the jacket's provenance. Even though it seems pretty
ludicrous, Bernardo says the jackets are designed so that they can be buried in the ground and will completely biodegrade. While all of these features will not be enough for those that have an ethical objection to the killing of animals for their meat or skins, it does seem like a step forward in clean production practices. Bernardo's owner Stuart Pollack told the Bellevue Reporter:
It’s all a progression. Twenty-five percent “green” is better then 10 percent and 75 percent is better then 50 percent. We need to start somewhere and then move forward
Read more:
The Fur And The Feathers Keep Flying: Part I
The Fur Keeps Flying: Part II
Take The Poll: Can Fur Be Green?
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- Fashion Foraging: Turn Umbrellas Into Eco-Chic Apparel
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Too bad I missed the poll. I think there are some introduced species that need to be culled because they are decimating native habitats. There are also native mammals that are completely out-of-balance with their native habitat due to a lack of predators (long term the approach should be to get that balance back, but it demands culls in the meantime). Better to put that fur and meat to use if possible than to just chuck these carcasses in an incinerator or landfill.
If the green suede lives up to the press release, it sounds like an innovation worth keeping.
Ok - so I get where they're coming from. And I'm a meat-eater/leather wearer.
Chinchilla is ridiculous because the shelf-life of the fur is so short. It's too delicate to have any staying power.
And the best/greenest furs are the ones I inherited from my great-great-grandmother :-) (but rarely wear because I live in Dallas)
If they treated their pigs humanely, THEY WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED THEM.
Green Washing, why not make it with a vegan material. I used to buy leather, but now I will only buy vegan shoes and organic cotton.
Get over it Rural Vegan - Everything that lives, dies. Everything, including us.
I believe that if they are using natural tannins and no chrome and treating the water coming out of the plant so that it is drinkable, it is a huge step forward compared to the rest of the industry.
I feel we bright greens need to support these efforts and give constructive criticism so that these companies continue to improve their practices.
we are developing something along those lines with purposed salmon leather (byproduct of the huge salmon industry) you can see more here www.essustainable.com
At any given moment, North Carolina ALONE houses 10 million hogs in barns as large as football fields on huge industrial farms! These are corporate hogs, bred, born and raised in these indoor pens. Their future: just 165 days before the slaughter. It's also the waste that's the problem. Pigs excrete four times as much waste as humans, and it's turning North Carolina into one vast toilet.
The "everything lives, everything dies" argument highlights just how little people know what it takes to make their jacket or their hot dog. It blows my mind that people who choose to eat and wear animals ALWAYS KNOW THE LEAST ABOUT THE SUBJECT.
I'm not willing to die for fashion so I'm not going to ask any other animal to do that. Its entirely possible to look and feel great without causing all this terror. Its time to quit being selfish, look at the FACTS and make better choices. Period.
Telling Americans not to eat meat is a waste of breath. That's like telling them not to have unprotected sex, drink alcohol or drive their cars too fast. It doesn't matter how right you are, how good your reasons, or how just your cause, its just not going to happen.
Given that (sadly) pigs will be killed in the name of gluttony for a while yet, why is it not sustainable to use the by-products from that procedure? (I can understand you not wanting the pig to die, but what's wrong with using the leftovers once its already dead?)
Call it fair trade when human rights were considered
Call it vegan when no animals were harmed
Call it green when the production, use and destruction of the product are sustainable.
etc...
Use multiple labels if applicable
DON'T try to fit everything under one label, or if you do, use the right one: Perfect.
Can suede be Vegan? No. Can it be sustainable? Different story.
I think the distance the carcasses/hides travel should also be considered by any discerning consumer. Being shipped to Slovenia, just to be shipped back and sold to people who live next door to where the pigs lived seems excessive (though I'm sure not unusual.)
This is utterly disgusting. There is no way that you can justify the misery and suffering of animals for food/skin/fur, no matter how much the environmental impact is mitigated. It's still wrong, it's still a dirty, bloody process and it's still 1000% UNNECESSARY.
Considering how large scale pig farming abuses animals, workers, and the planet, there is simply no way to green-wash this. Suede is a product of factory farming and will, therefore, never be humane or ecological.
Shame on you, Treehugger, for perpetuating these myths.
Kaydee:
I don't think it's perpetuating a myth to ask the question 'Can this suede be green?' and then look at the reasons why the designer/manufacturer is saying that it is green.
I think everything Ed says applies to plant life as well. That's the hypocrisy that instantly nullifies any vegan argument. Some people have feelings for animals; some people have feelings for plants. It's like two religions bickering about which God is real, when both's actions will send them to their respective "hell." Are factory animals treated poorly? Yes. No doubt. Is eating an animal "wrong?" Of course not.
utter crap. Suede is not every going to be able to be green at the very roots of any argument - and factory-farming animals for food and clothing is beyond wasteful of resources ultimately - - and most importantly, horribly cruel in practice. Shame on treehugger. If people think we are going to have any sort of greener world while they still get to support the factory farming realms, you are deluding yourselves.
Learn about the realities of factory farming - what it takes to feed the current population of this globe meat and keep them wearing leather. Educate yourself (online, easily) about how "pig farming" has devastated the entire clean water supply of rural towns that catered to this industry.... understand how many people could be fed with the same energy and resources going into plants instead of raising animals - - and stop wearing these creatures who are treated as nothing more than products for humanity. I work at a farm animal sanctuary and see the animals brought in (confiscated by local humane societies) and see every day the sad results of this factory farming system. There is nothing green - or positive about this - for anyone - the animals or the people.
Except that a plant doesn't have a brain, or any way of expressing pain or emotion. People don't "think" there is a difference between plants and animals-there is. It's not hypocritical to be a vegan and eat a salad.
I think this is great. I try my best to not buy leather, suede, fur, etc. And I eat vegetarian. I'm not vegan, but I see being a vegetarian as a step in the right direction. It's in the name of progress. Which is what this article is about.
Some are simply not willing to give up articles of clothing made out of animal by-products or not eat meat. But this at least gives them a better option, just like the option for meat eaters to buy free range, organic, grass fed meat. Plus it points out that there is a problem in the industry which needs to be fixed. At least they are trying.