Vegetable tanning leather and vegan leather are often confused.
Vegetable tanning leather is animal leather tanned with vegetable extracts, unlike chrome tanning, which is more polluting.
Vegan leather is not animal leather, but a synthetic or plant-based material designed to imitate leather without using animal products. Polyurethane is added to the plants (pineapple, apple). An alternative is mushroom leather, made from Phellinus ellipsoideus, which contains no chemical or synthetic substances.
For my part, I’m using more and more vegetable tanning leather because of pollution concerns. I also use chrome tanning leather, if possible from France, which comes from dormant stocks, and fish skins tanned in France, which were originally destined for destruction.
And soon wool felt…
