Pleather is a word often used to describe the alternative to real leather. The P basically meaning plastic. With that being said plastic is already an issue as it is so maybe youre substituting your animal skin for plastic but now you left one issue for the other, now you are being animal friendly but not eco-friendly....Well that's true but not all "pleather's" are alike. Some can be vegan friendly AND eco- friendly!!!! BUT BUT BUT HOW?!
Pleather Leggings from Blackheart.
First of all there are a lot of different types of "pleathers" but did you know that they actually have real names? pleather really doesn't describe anything about the material other than....its not leather. Some other nicknames are "leatherette", "faux leather", and "naugahyde".
Second of all, almost all leathers are made from plastic or a combination of a fabric with the plastic but some are made from plastic bottles that have been recycled too.. So with the multiple possibilities its always good to do some research on the designer or materials on the label.
Here are some, but also keep in mind some designers make their own synthetic fabrics:
Pleather Leggings from Blackheart.
First of all there are a lot of different types of "pleathers" but did you know that they actually have real names? pleather really doesn't describe anything about the material other than....its not leather. Some other nicknames are "leatherette", "faux leather", and "naugahyde".
Second of all, almost all leathers are made from plastic or a combination of a fabric with the plastic but some are made from plastic bottles that have been recycled too.. So with the multiple possibilities its always good to do some research on the designer or materials on the label.
Here are some, but also keep in mind some designers make their own synthetic fabrics:
- Cork Leather: made from the bark of cork oak trees.
- Koskin: Usually used in computer laptop cases. It has superior durability than leather which is why its preferred to protect electronics. It looks and feels like leather as well.
- Ocean Leather: a leather made from kelp
- Poromeric Imitation Leather: are a group of synthetic "breathable" leather substitutes made from a plastic coating usually a polyurethane on a fabric usually being polyester.
- PVC: THIS ONE IS A BIG NO! yeah alright now you're being so good to the animals but you're totally hating on the environment. Basically this is fabric coated with polyvinyl chloride. Its a #3 plastic which can't even be recycled so it just sits in landfills. You cant even make it into something else unless you just keep reusing it. Not to mention the harmful carcicogen-ie ingredients. But dont worry leather is still actually worse and actually contains more carcicogens, fuel, ugh list goes on and on to how much worse it is. Also if I may add to this, this fabric is highly flammable in a fire as well (well a lot of fabrics are so umm, thanks google?).
- Vegetan:This is a microfibre material that is specifically designed and used as an animal-friendly leather substitute.
*********COMING SOON! (THIS SUNDAY ACTUALLY) THE VEGAN BRAND OF THE WEEK.... THAT ALSO USES ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS******
- Some of the places I got my information from: (I have some general knowledge so some of it comes from information I might have gotten online years ago)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_leather
- http://www.ehow.com/about_6803008_faux-leather-fabric_.html
- http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-different-types-of-leather.htm