Exotic Skins Are Out: 6 Ethical Materials to Transform Your Products

Informational • 6m read

Exotic Skins Are Out: 6 Ethical Materials to Transform Your Products

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Mai Nguyen • Dec 23, 2024

2024 is the year of positive transformation in the fashion industry, when eco-consciousness of fashion consumers is rising rapidly and positively with sustainable and ethical practices such as prioritizing buying minimalism designs, focusing on the origin of the materials and ethical manufacturing processes. It’s time for fashion brands and fashion creators to reconsider the way they produce fashion, in order to satisfy consumer’s wants and needs. 

Recently, London Fashion Weeks (LFW) has banned the use of exotic skins of wild species such as crocodiles, snakes, leopards, and other animals. In the past, the use of those leather and fur as a fashion material was supposed to be luxurious and elite, but now it’s forbidden as this is an action of cruelty of mass livestock rearing and other negative impacts including the number of resources consumed and carbon emitted in the process of making those skins expensive products.

Shoes at the Dries van Noten menswear show at Paris fashion week in 2020.

Last month, the British Fashion Council’s deputy director for policy and engagement, David Leigh-Pemberton, said that next year's fashion show would prohibit the use of exotic skins from alligators, snakes and so on, for the wider range of sustainable standards. It has to be practiced and adapted at the moment as an important and serious statement.

Although sales of luxury leather accessories are growing rapidly and leather ready-to-wear is trending on the runway, leather producers have suffered years of declining prices. There’s a poll showed that 37 percent of people in the UK and 23 percent in the US think leather is an inappropriate material to use in clothing. In response to the negative impacts and eco-awareness, Gucci, Prada, Coach and Versace, have removed animal fur from their collections as public pushback has hit a peak. This is a strong sign of a shift in consumer sentiment towards leather, leading to the rise of alternative leathers.

The Rise Of Ethical Leather: 6 Alternatives You Should Notice

From 2017, brands are beginning to respond. Many fashion stores in the UK said vegan products increased 180 percent. The young cohort and fashion designers are hoping to fast-track the move away from animal leathers by developing convincing alternatives that least impact the living habitats and common polluting. 

Explore these 6 sustainable alternatives for your skin products.

  1. Piñatex 

Founded in 2013, British company Ananas Anam created Piñatex, a plant-based leather alternative made from pineapple leaf fibers. Piñatex is made from pineapple plantation waste in the Philippines. Local factories process the fibers and turn them into a non-woven fabric used for clothing, footwear, and furniture. 

 

  1. Tômtex

Tômtex is a materials innovation company founded by Uyen Tran–a Vietnamese fashion designer, developing next-generation biomaterials using mushrooms and seafood waste shells as their main sources.

 

  1. Palm leather 

Palm leathers are developed by a Dutch designer Tjeerd Veenhoven, are a sustainable and vegan alternative to traditional leather made from animal skins. Much like Piñatex, this source of this leather is collected from area palm instead of pineapples.

  1. Bio-leather

This biomaterial is developed by an Israeli designer Shahar Livne. She has successfully created two pairs of sneakers with alternative leather inserts from the wasted fat, bones and blood of animals. Not using the whole animal’s body to produce, she just collects discarded wasted blood as an ink for the deep-red skin.

 

  1. Mylo 

This is the first biomaterial supposed to be the set-to-go materials created by the Bolt Threads – US biotechnology company. Made from mycelium, the root-like structure fungi use to grow. Mylo uses much less water than animal leather and produces fewer greenhouse gases. Also Stella McCartney, Adidas, and Kering are set to launch the first Mylo-based products next year.

  1. Lino leather

Lino Leather by Don Kwaning, reimagines linoleum, typically used as flooring, into leather-like materials. A thicker version mimics rumen leather, while a thinner one offers flexibility similar to commercial leather.  Made from natural linseed oil and cork, linoleum surprises many with its eco-friendly potential.

The Future Of Real Leather

Animal rights supporters are increasingly pushing for a shift from using exotic skins to more vegan materials. A PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) protester disrupted the event by rushing the stage and chanting against animal abuse, highlighting the lengths activists go to raise awareness about animal rights at London Fashion Weeks.

The price of real leather is dropping, with cowhides now at 36 cents per pound, down from $1.11 in 2014, according to the IMF. High prices in 2013-2014 led manufacturers to adopt cheaper plastic alternatives, which many stuck with even after leather prices stabilized. Trends like athleisure and casual footwear further reduced demand. 

Many London Fashion Week designers, often smaller and less established than those in Paris and Milan, don't typically use exotic skins in their collections. However, the move is still important, as London follows Copenhagen Fashion Week in banning exotic skins and feathers.

The fashion industry has largely moved away from fur, with major brands like Gucci and Chanel implementing bans. However, the use of exotic skins remains controversial, as they are rare and considered luxurious by many. Chanel banned exotic skins in 2018, and Marc Jacobs followed in May 2024. Kering, which bans fur, still uses exotic skins, as does Prada. Hermés and LVMH have no bans on either fur or exotic skins.

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