What Is Vegan Leather?

How is vegan leather made?

Vegan leather is made by giving a fabric backing, or a sheet of plant or fungal material, a leather-like surface without using anything from an animal. A 2021 laboratory study in the journal Coatings, which compared leather with nine alternatives on sale, shows the main ways of doing it.

Plastic-coated fabric

The conventional route is a fabric covered by two or more layers of synthetic polymer. The study notes that polyester fabric coated with polyurethane (PU) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is often used, making it completely fossil-based. Inexpensive versions may use a heavy base cloth such as cotton duck or rayon. Some imitation leathers have no fabric at all; they are thick, embossed sheets of rubber or polyurethane. The surface is imprinted or embossed to copy the look and feel of leather. This is the same construction sold as faux leather; vinyl is the PVC version.

Plant-filled coatings

Newer materials replace part of the polyurethane with agricultural by-products used as fillers. In the study, the 2021 samples of the cactus-based material sold as Desserto and the apple-based material sold as Appleskin both had a foamed polyurethane layer holding the plant filler. Both sat on a polyester fabric. For both, the authors concluded that the bulk of the material was still polyurethane, although they could not measure the plant content exactly.

Plant-fibre non-wovens

The study’s sample of the material sold as Piñatex was a non-woven sheet of pineapple-leaf fibres with a thin polymer coating. The study reports it as coated with polylactic acid (PLA) made from corn starch, but its analysis of the 2021 sample found “a remarkable content of PUR/acrylate” in the finish. Another sample sold as SnapPap was a cellulose-fibre non-woven bonded with an acrylic binder.

Single-layer biomaterials

A few materials have no backing or topcoat. The material sold as Muskin is taken from the fungus Phellinus ellipsoideus. Kombucha leather is a dried layer of polymers secreted by bacteria in a culture of bacteria and yeasts that metabolise sugars.

What is the difference between vegan leather and faux leather?

Faux leather names what a material imitates, while vegan leather names what it leaves out: animal-derived inputs. The two overlap but are not the same, and real leather, which is a tanned hide or skin, is neither.

Bonded leather shows the gap from the other side: the FTC says material containing ground, shredded or bonded leather should not be represented as leather, yet it contains leather fibres, so it is never vegan. The word “vegan” is a claim, not a test result. The Coatings study examined a belt material referred to as a vegan product and found that its middle layer was leather board, a finding the authors called surprising.

What are the properties of vegan leather?

Vegan leather’s properties depend on its construction, and in the 2021 Coatings tests none of the alternatives matched leather. The study measured each against reference values from ISO 20942, the specification for chrome-tanned shoe-upper leather.

The authors’ summary is blunt: none of the materials combined high mechanical strength and flex resistance with high water vapour permeability. They did not test biodegradability.

How does vegan leather appear on a label?

Vegan leather appears on a label as the material it is, or as a disclosure that it is not leather, because neither the US FTC’s leather guides nor EU and UK footwear labelling law defines “vegan leather”.

United States

The FTC’s Guides for Select Leather and Imitation Leather Products (16 CFR Part 24) cover items such as handbags, wallets, luggage, footwear and belts not sold as part of a garment; garments themselves are not on the list. Under the Guides:

• The unqualified word “leather” should be used only when a product is leather in all substantial parts.
• A material that looks like leather but is not should be disclosed, with examples such as “Not leather”, “Imitation leather”, “Simulated leather”, “Vinyl”, “Vinyl coated fabric” or “Plastic”.
• The Guides are the FTC’s interpretation of the law and a basis for voluntary compliance; conduct that departs from them may still lead to corrective action.

EU and UK footwear

Shoes sold to consumers in the EU (Directive 94/11/EC) and the UK (the Footwear (Indication of Composition) Labelling Regulations 1995) are labelled for three parts: the upper, the lining and sock, and the outer sole. Each part is marked, by pictogram or in words, as leather, coated leather, textile or other materials. The label names the material that makes up at least 80% of the part, or the two main materials if none reaches 80%. Both “leather” and “coated leather” are defined as tanned hide or skin, so a vegan upper on trainers or boots shows the textile or “other materials” mark. In both, the label goes on at least one shoe of each pair.

Beyond the law, the Coatings authors note that the European standard EN 15987 restricts the use of leather terms for these materials.

How do you tell good vegan leather from poor?

Find out what the material is, because “vegan” tells you only what it leaves out. Five checks for the shop:

• Read the label or shoe pictograms. On a US bag or belt, look for a disclosure such as “Vinyl” or “Imitation leather”. On shoes, a vegan upper should carry the textile or “other materials” mark; the leather or coated-leather mark means animal hide.
• Look at the back. Check a cut edge, a pocket or the underside of a strap. A fabric layer under a plastic skin means a coated textile; a lining can hide it, so look where the material is turned.
• Ask about the coating, not just the filler. A plant name on the swing tag may describe a filler inside polyurethane, as the study found in cactus-based material, or a fibre sheet with a PUR/acrylate finish, as in its Piñatex sample.
• Bend a corner. The laboratory flex test grades a material by whether its coating cracks when flexed. Fold a strap or tongue sharply a few times and look for fine cracks in the top layer.
• Think about where it will be worn. Most coated alternatives in the study let little water vapour through, which matters for comfort in shoes, the use the study’s reference value was written for.

Red flag: a “vegan” claim with no stated composition. In the study, one material described as vegan contained leather board.

How do you care for vegan leather?

Care for vegan leather by keeping it dry, out of strong light and away from bleach, because polyurethane, one of the usual coatings, can degrade under all three. The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s CAMEO materials database notes that polyester-type polyurethanes are very susceptible to degradation at high humidity. Polyether types are very susceptible to light, and chlorine bleach may cause degradation.

Is vegan leather sustainable?

Vegan leather avoids animal inputs, but that alone does not make it low-impact. The term comes from veganism, which the Vegan Society defines as seeking to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of and cruelty to animals. Its definition also promotes animal-free alternatives for the benefit of humans, animals and the environment, but it sets no test for carbon, water or plastic.

The Coatings study describes the conventional polyester and PU or PVC construction as completely fossil-based. Plant-filled versions replace only part of the polyurethane, and in the cactus-based sample the bulk was still polyurethane. The study did not deal with carbon footprint, environmental footprint, traceability or biodegradability, so its performance data is not an environmental verdict. A claim that a particular material is biodegradable needs its own evidence. For the broader questions behind these trade-offs, see sustainable fashion; the same gap between animal-free and low-impact applies to faux fur.