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May 4, 2024

Vegan shoes: These leather alternatives can do something

Especially in the cold season, our shoes have a lot of abkönnen and still should not be made of cowhide and Co. - so where to buy suitable leather-free shoes? And which leather alternatives are there anyway? Questions about questions we want to answer.

What is vegan leather?

In contrast to animal leather, which consists of tanned animal skin, vegan leather is made from natural vegetable materials or from plastics. Since we want to know more about it, we have asked the animal welfare organization Peta for the alternatives and their methods of production. Here are four examples at a glance.

Vegan leather alternatives

Synthetic leather / synthetic leather

Synthetic leather is the most common leather alternative. It is produced by many different manufacturers and varies accordingly in quality. Although based on petroleum, high quality imitation leather like Alcantara uses eco-friendly manufacturing processes and / or leather from recycled raw materials, such as plastic bottles. Synthetic leather is versatile because it can be easily edited and embossed. So it can inexpensively mimic any look, such as that of exotic skins.

leather paper

Looks like leather, but it's paper. Usually consists of a cellulose-latex mixture. The material contains no pentachlorophenol, PVC or BPA, and is neither harmful to the environment nor to health. It is tear and abrasion resistant, can be cut, washed, ironed, glued, rolled, punched, embossed, sewed and is especially popular with hobbyists. Made in Germany and currently available as Urus Vegatex and SnapPap.

apple leather

Is currently produced by the manufacturer Frumat in Bolzano, Italy, and is based on leftovers of apple juice, the so-called pomace. A first fashion collection was already presented in 2016 at the Interpoma trade fair and in 2015 a leather chair. How flexible the material can be used is shown by the fact that Frumat also produces paper from the same raw material and in 2015 the first book printed on apple paper appeared.

pineapple leather

Pineapple Anam is a Spanish company called Piñatex? a leather made from the fibers of pineapple leaves. The leaves are a waste material in the Philippine Philippines and become a "leather" in Spain. transformed. Pineapple leather has been used for a number of years and made into shoes, fashion and accessories (such as wristwatches and bags), but in the future it will also be of interest to the automotive and furniture industries.