In today’s increasingly environmental awareness, ecological leather and bio-based leather are two materials often mentioned by people, they are regarded as a potential alternative to traditional leather. However, who is the real “green leather”? This requires us to analyze from multiple perspectives.
Eco-leather is usually the name given to a process of leather. It is in the leather production process, by reducing the use of chemicals, using more environmentally friendly dyes and additives and other ways to reduce the environmental pollution of leather production. Ecological leather production raw material is still animal skin, so in the raw material acquisition, still involves animal breeding and slaughtering and other links, from this level, it did not get rid of the traditional leather production of animal resources dependence problem.
In the production process, although the ecological leather reduces the emission of harmful substances, the tanning process itself still has some environmental challenges. For example, the tanning process may use heavy metals such as chromium, which may pollute soil and water if not handled properly. Moreover, the carbon emissions and feed consumption of animal hides during the farming process cannot be ignored.
Bio-based leather, on the other hand, is a leather-like material made from biomass of plant or other non-animal origin, through fermentation, extraction, synthesis and other processes. Common bio-based leather raw materials are pineapple leaf fiber, mushroom mycelium, apple peel and so on. These raw materials are rich in source and renewable, avoiding harm to animals, and have obvious ecological advantages from the perspective of raw material acquisition.
In the production process, the production process of bio-based leather is also improving to reduce energy consumption and reduce waste generation. For example, some bio-based leather production processes use environmentally friendly materials such as water-based polyurethane, which reduces the emission of volatile organic compounds. Moreover, due to the characteristics of its raw materials, bio-based leather also has unique performance in some properties. For example, pineapple leaf fiber as raw material of bio-based leather has good breathability and flexibility.
However, bio-based leather is not perfect. In terms of durability, some bio-based leathers may be inferior to traditional animal leathers and high-quality eco-leathers. Its fiber structure or material properties may lead to its anti-wear ability is slightly inferior, in the case of long-term use or high-intensity use, easy to wear, rupture and so on.
From the market application point of view, ecological leather is now widely used in high-end leather products field, such as high-grade leather shoes, leather bags and so on. Consumers recognize its main reason is that it retains the texture and performance of leather to a certain extent, at the same time flaunted the concept of “ecological” is also in line with part of the environmental protection people’s psychology. But because of its animal raw material source, some strict vegan and animal protector does not accept.
Bio-based leather is mainly used in some of the durability requirements are not particularly high fashion items, such as some of the fashion shoes, handbags and some decorative leather products. Its price is relatively low, and a variety of raw material sources for product design provides more creative space. With the continuous progress of technology, the application field of bio-based leather is also gradually expanding.
In general, ecological leather and bio-based leather have their own advantages and shortcomings. Eco-skin is closer to traditional leather in terms of texture and performance, but there are controversies in the use of animal resources and some of the environmental impact; bio-based leather excels in raw material sustainability and some environmental protection indexes, but it needs to be further improved in terms of durability and other aspects. Both in the direction of more environmentally friendly development, the future who will become the real “green leather” dominant, depending on the progress of technology, consumer demand and industry standards for further improvement.
Post time: Apr-30-2025
