Week Three: Leather!
This past week, I found a new love! I finally bought a leather jacket! After reflecting on ordering, the of shipping from UPS trucks and other delivery companies contributing to carbon emissions, I decided to purchase in store. I took the light rail downtown which in itself was more sustainable than driving. The light rail is electrically powered, and do not depend on fuel or gases to power, which therefore wouldn't contribute to carbon admissions. This action was more sustainable than taking the bus or driving. Although this doesn't directly connect to my project, it's another example of how minor actions can help us limit our ecological footprint.
While downtown, I bought a leather jacket from, once again, ALLSAINTS.
This jacket, which according to the fabrics and care tab on the ALLSAINTS website, is created with 100% soft lamb leather. Now there is an interesting trade-off from this decision. Lamb leather, obviously, comes from the skins of lambs. When the lambs used as a resource for fabrics die and begin to decompose, they release carbon in the form of dioxide to the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. This unsustainable for the environment, as animals die so their skins can be used for clothing production, and the rate of dead carcasses will release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which raises the greenhouse emission levels.
Interestingly, my decision to buy real leather is considerably more sustainable for the environment opposed to the alternative of buying a faux leather jacket from a fast fashion source such as Topman, Faux leather is typically created through polyester and more toxic dyes, which when exposed to the environment, are significantly more harmful. Clothes are often more unsustainable before their production but are less harmful after their production, which is an interesting dichotomy that tends to be overlooked.
SOURCES:
The Environmental Benefits of Riding Public Transit
While downtown, I bought a leather jacket from, once again, ALLSAINTS.
This jacket, which according to the fabrics and care tab on the ALLSAINTS website, is created with 100% soft lamb leather. Now there is an interesting trade-off from this decision. Lamb leather, obviously, comes from the skins of lambs. When the lambs used as a resource for fabrics die and begin to decompose, they release carbon in the form of dioxide to the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. This unsustainable for the environment, as animals die so their skins can be used for clothing production, and the rate of dead carcasses will release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which raises the greenhouse emission levels.
Interestingly, my decision to buy real leather is considerably more sustainable for the environment opposed to the alternative of buying a faux leather jacket from a fast fashion source such as Topman, Faux leather is typically created through polyester and more toxic dyes, which when exposed to the environment, are significantly more harmful. Clothes are often more unsustainable before their production but are less harmful after their production, which is an interesting dichotomy that tends to be overlooked.
SOURCES:
The Environmental Benefits of Riding Public Transit
Wow! Progress! You took the train and bought in store. That's a huge switch up from your first blog post, I'm proud of you! Your explanation of faux vs real leather is interesting, it's like a lesser of two evils. I was compelled to read up on it and found out that polyester is the second to last least harmful product in fashion production for the environment (ethicalgallery.com.au). It also says the best alternative is vegan synthetic leather, have you ever come across any products like that?
ReplyDeleteLove that you explained how buying real leather actually is more beneficial for the environment, but I do think you could expand on how the raising and killing of a large amount of livestock could be seen as akin to the livestock we raise to eat. Overall this is a huge improvement, glad to know you're sticking to your habit!
ReplyDeleteThis is great I love how you chose a usually overlooked topic. I never think about lowering my environmental impact through fashion!
ReplyDeleteI like how you included the environmental impact of transportation when it comes to fashion not just the article of clothing. In past weeks, you shipped purchases to your home but now you are moving away from that! On the other hand, ALLSAINTS is a big chain having almost as many stores as Urban Outfitters does. I wanted to see if I could find the environmental impact of shopping locally from local people and small shops. I came across this blog https://www.getrichslowly.org/why-i-buy-local/ and was worth the read.
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