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Fashion is Failing to Address the Cow in the Room

From CollectiveFashionJustice.org
June 2023

While leather is a profitable co-product of the beef and dairy industries, the fashion industry continues to refer to it as a worthless ‘by-product’, even a kind of recycling initiative, in an effort to distance itself from their own irresponsible supply chains practices.

Cow's eye
Cows continue to be ignored by an industry profiting from the sale of their skins. Image: a cow on a slaughterhouse truck from We Animals Media

There’s no doubt you’ve read an article about ‘the leather debate’. Fashion industry figureheads love to explore the possibility of more ‘responsibly produced’ animal-derived leather and pick apart the sustainability credentials of synthetic and bio-based alternatives. They analyse tannery practices and the massive climate and biodiversity impacts of cow skin leather. But there’s one thing we don’t read about: what leather production means for cows themselves.

While leather is a profitable co-product of the beef and dairy industries, the fashion industry continues to refer to it as a worthless ‘by-product’, even a kind of recycling initiative, in an effort to distance itself from their own irresponsible supply chains practices. In reality, the leather industry is worth billions, with the popularity and profitability of leather directly linked to the number of cattle reared for slaughter, according to industry bodies including the Leather and Hide Council of America.

As such, those profiting from the sale of animal skin products have an unshakable responsibility to consider the interlinked environmental and ethical impacts of their leather. But this isn’t what’s happening. Instead, even with FOUR PAWS global surveying finding that 86% of people believe animal protection must be a priority in fashion, the plight of cattle seems determinedly ignored by an industry benefiting from intentionally designed public ignorance on what animal-derived material production really looks like.

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Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE.

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