Collective Fashion Justice Accuses Leather Industry of ‘Fabricating the Truth’ About Environmental Impact

The leather industry has been obfuscating the gravity of its environmental impacts, according to a new study from Collective Fashion Justice (CFJ).

In its most recent report, “Fabricating the Truth,” the U.S. and Australia-based non-profit asserted that greenwashing and lobbying have allowed the world’s leather producers to operate under a veil of misinformation, providing consumers and the public with false assurances that their purchases are sustainable.

Today, the leather goods sector is worth about $486 billion, with the global animal hide market estimated to have reached $137 billion this year.

“To ensure that a profitable, positive perception of leather is maintained, leather trade and lobbying groups spend significant resources and funds pedalling disinformation to green-wash and ethics-wash leather,” the group wrote in December.

CFJ analyzed 25 globally significant leather trade groups that primarily lobby on behalf of the industry, homing in on the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA),  Brazilian Leather and Leather Naturally based on their outsized social media influence. Analysts conducted a qualitative content analysis of their social media posts dating between June 2024 and March 2021.

“These groups distract from and distort the reality of animal-derived leather as a major contributor to fashion’s climate, biodiversity, broader environmental and ethical crises. At the same time, the leather industry also actively lobbies against legislation and regulation that would minimise fashion’s environmental impacts.”

There are eight key “myths” that the industry has perpetuated to achieve its goals, including that leather is merely a by-product of the meat and dairy industries, CFJ found. “Leather is a profitable co-product,” the report said, and it’s essential to padding the margins for food producers.

Leather lobbying groups and producers have also said the material isn’t tied to deforestation, though the razing of forests continues to take place throughout the value chain for leather shoes, bags and garments, the group asserted. And as for the claim that leather is produced ethically with high welfare standards for animals, CFJ found that some legal industry practices include animal mutilation and horn removal.

Leather tanning also uses substances that can cause harm to workers in the industry, with chromium frequently used in the process. It’s been tied to cancer and health risks, debunking claims that production is a clean process.

Leather producers have also long claimed that leather is more responsible than the alternatives that have made their way onto the market in recent years.

Fossil-fuel based “pleathers” are unquestionable harmful and it’s “essential” to move beyond them in pursuit of a better option, the report acknowledged. But bio-based next-gen materials are becoming increasingly viable and available. By contrast, animal hides are often non-biodegradable since they’re frequently coated in plastic—another untruth that has been promulgated by the industry.

Finally, CFJ said that claims that leather can be regenerative and pull methane from the atmosphere are bunk. According to the United Nations Environment Program, agriculturally derived methane emissions are a major contributor to climate change. Even regenerative farming practices don’t offset the impact of those emissions, the group wrote.

Lobbyists for the leather industry have been central to the peddling of rose-tinted rhetoric. Over the course of the past year, they worked against including leather in the EU’s deforestation regulation by contacting members of the European Parliament and lobbying at the UN Biodiversity Conference. They also circulated a white paper at COP28 and COP29, presenting leather as a climate solution rather than a liability.

Meanwhile, CFJ accused Brazilian leather lobbyists of pushing against Indigenous land rights in the country and of attempting to help the industry evade action on the Global Methane Pledge.

Lobbyists for the cattle industry across the globe have helped bolster subsidies that support it—to the tune of about $9 billion throughout the top 10 largest hide producing countries.

CFJ is now urging decision-makers within the fashion industry and government alike to take action to combat what it sees as a finely tuned global disinformation campaign.

The group said members of the fashion sector should be making greater commitments to significantly reducing their use of animal-derived leather in order to reach their climate targets, and should turn instead to bio- and plant-based alternatives, along with recycled materials.

Brands that do use leather should commit to eradicating greenwashing within their messaging, doing away with terms like “responsible,” “sustainable,” and “ethical,” and speak about reducing impact only in highly specific terms.

When it comes to legislators, CFJ recommended that they become more attuned to the motivations of leather industry lobbyists and more discerning about the information being used to inform policy decisions. The group supports advancements in anti-greenwashing legislation, as well as subsidies for next-gen material innovators committed to advancing bio-based and plant-based solutions.

“The leather industry thrives on denying very basic realities about the production and value chain of leather, diverting attention from its harm and spreading disinformation,” CFJ wrote. “We can no longer afford to be ignorant to the significant harm that animal-derived leather production causes to people, our fellow animals and the planet.”