Avoid microplastics, choose leather, VDL urges
Germany’s national leather federation, VDL, said in a recent newsletter that concerns about microplastics should convince consumers to choose leather instead.
Microplastics are shed from clothing and shoes made from synthetic materials, it explained. Tiny particles are ingested by marine life and are now so ubiquitous that they have been found in the bloodstream of healthy humans.
The most common sources of microplastic pollution are polypropylene (PP) in packaging materials and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used in the manufacture of bottles. Other synthetics in common use are polyurethane (PU) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), frequently used in the manufacture of footwear and clothing. All are derived from fossil fuels and are often disguised as vegan materials or eco-materials so as to invite consumers to think they are “sustainable”.
Leather products are free of microplastics, VDL pointed out, so when consumers buy items made from leather, they are helping to preserve the environment from plastic.
Well known leather industry figure, Dr Dietrich Tegtmeyer, has shared this version in English of what VDL said.
Image: Leather boots from Rosenheim-based footwear brand Gabor.
