Leather has been used as a clothing item and in interior decoration for almost as long as humans have been on the planet. We use exclusively full grain vegetable-tanned cowhide in our business, and we believe this is the most sustainable choice. Steve is also the inventor and creator of the "Magnetic Leather Floor" and "Magnetic Wall Tiles". While leather has always been an appealing home decor material, the environmental impact of most leather treatments has prevented decorators from using it extensively in green homes. For more inspiration, check out the photo gallery full of beautiful leather installations from our clients. Canada L4A 3Y7. Discover fresh inspiration at EcoHides, where environmentally friendly leather hides for interior decorating are changing the way designers view leather. What is for certain is that attractive, contemporary luxury must be sustainable—and sustainably fascinating,” explains Ola Källenius, head of Mercedes-Benz. Leather came into existence when Man first discovered that a wide variety of animal hides can be treated through various natural and artificial tanning processes to create a hardy material that is used to cover furniture, for making shoes and clothes, along with many other uses. With a wide range of colors, shapes, forms and textures, and custom services to choose from, leather can suit any style and space requirements. Faux leathers don’t have the same rigid structure as the full grain vegetable-tanned leather we use. Secondly, we choose not to use leather from animals that were raised just for that leather. Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Nothing is wasted: we donate the leather we can’t use to Help Heal Vets, an organization that makes leather craft kits for veterans. This is also the reason it is often referred to as "naked leather." Modern interior design with handmade leather and fur accessories or items created with faux fur fabrics looks warm, cozy and luxurious. This should be relatively easy to do since it is illegal! Hides hanging in Horween Leather Company Cows: The Original Cash Cow. ( Log Out /  ( Log Out /  No other natural material moves us like leather, and brands that want to create a remarkable customer experiences would do well to capitalize on its unique and memorable aroma. Consumer choice can have unimaginable ripple effects – just look at all the good a company like Patagonia can do with a strong and dedicated customer base, from national park advocacy to sustainable food marketing. Stories about leather in fashion and design including furniture, footwear, clothing and products made from animal hides and skins. This is a personal, moral choice for each individual, but at Walnut we don’t use faux leathers for two reasons: We care about our environmental footprint for the sake of all animals (including humans), and this is one major reason why we choose to work with vegetable-tanned leather. 3.8 billion animals are used to make leather each each year. 13383 Kennedy Road Perhaps most remarkable is leather’s appeal to our sense of smell as well as sight, touch, and sound. The animals which supply most of hides and skins for the manufacture of leather are classed as Mammalia. #1: Leather is Durable and Long-Lasting. using our Bicycle Bar Wraps, Eco friendly and carbon-neutral shopping: showcasing our sustainability efforts, How to Braid Bullwhip Leather Bar Wraps on Bullhorn and Other Handlebars, New Deck of Cards for our Travel Cribbage Gift Set: Bicycle “1885”, 10 Good Reasons to Shop Online Early for the Holidays in 2020. A list of thousands of animal and plant species are listed by the Washington Convention on the Protection of Animals (CITES – Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora), an international agreement between 164 countries. So please feel free to give us a call on +44 (0)1273 514441 or send us an email to sales@leather4craft.co.uk In other words, if the hides are not used for leather, they are landfilled. Aniline leather is dyed by immersing the hide in a transparent dye bath, but the look of the surface is retained because it is not coated with any additional polymers or pigments. Durability is built into every leather interior by our highly skilled sewers using precision equipment and the finest materials in the industry. Ethical. Blackstock specializes in leather FLOOR and WALL tiles, and have solid partnerships with high quality tanneries. Leather demand has steadily increased over the last 15 years, with a further 6% increase expected over the next 5 years, according to Mordor Intelligence. In the next post, we’ll share tips and tricks for spotting craftsmanship details and leather quality out in the wild. Because leather is a natural material, all leather hides have some blemishes such as range marks or cuts. We are proud to be an ethical creative design agency, but we're not the only ones who are making a “positive impact”. Not only does this allow homeowners to change up their floor plan with a new arrangement or color scheme, but it also makes subfloor repairs in office spaces much more labor- and cost-effective. In recent years arguments against leather have cropped up, centered around animal rights and environmental issues, especially the high levels of methane cows contribute to the earth’s atmosphere. It is scratch resistant, very durable and elegant. It sources its raw materials from tanneries that are globally recognized for their eco-friendly practices. Are you against killing those precious little creatures with gorgeous fur to create items for modern interior design in Bohemian style? Change ). But if you’re a homeowner who plans on moving some time soon, a portable magnetic floor tiling system might be a more savvy investment. There is no such thing as “organic leather.” There is no tracking program for organically-raised beef hides, nor separation of organic and non-organic hides in the tanneries. Leather has been used for millennia for making shoes, clothing, shelter, and much more. Firstly, any conversation about leather needs to start with what we consider acceptable social norms. The historic Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio in Lenox, Massachusetts, for example, was able to preserve its natural leather flooring for more than three quarters of a century before installing new tiles. We’re not sustainability experts, but we do think and care about our environmental footprint and ethics in our business choices. The aim of the agreement, signed by eighty governments in Washington in 1973, is the protection of endangered species from extinction. Manufacturers then turn this into footwear – the primary use – as well as clothing, fashion accessories, interiors and car upholstery. Once installed by experts, a leather tile floor lasts a … Animals used as commodities. The chief characteristics of this class is that its members have all hairy skins and suckle their babies. The hides and skins of cattle,horse.buffalo,goat and sheep all belongs to the class mammalian but their anatomical structure and leather making properties are differ. Depending on how it is used, leather can add either a feminine or masculine feel to a space, a contemporary sleekness or timeless aesthetic. Successful ethical design . Another example is using water-based finishes only. But turning leather dust into fabric requires adding a bunch of toxic glues and polymers, and creates a poor-quality, limited-lifespan product. Following yesterday’s post on what makes a home, today I wanted to take that one step further and look at the idea of ethical interiors. Vegetable-tanned leather gets more beautiful with use and age and lasts as long as you take care of it, but once you throw it away, it starts to biodegrade. Furthermore, the company has created innovative leather products like its Basic line to divert more valuable material from area landfills. At the same time, leather becomes more supple and develops character as it ages, which makes it a wise investment indeed. Inherent flame retardancy and acoustic absorption are among the advantages leather brings to interior spaces, from homes to hotels, office spaces, museums, galleries, boutiques, and commercial buildings. Extensive quality control inspections are performed on every leather interior in adherence with CST’s strict quality standards. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. In this post we’ll discuss why we believe this is a sustainable choice, and explore what other sustainability considerations customers have with leather. Vegetable leathers, like mushroom leather or pineapple fiber leather, show real promise but are still in the development stage. Whilst there are ethical issues around the use of any animal product in fashion, and in leather’s origins as a by-product of the meat industry, even for non-vegetarians and non-vegans there are animal welfare issues to consider.. For us, it is important to not only have good intentions but also to back this up with great quality work. These grades determine the types of leather to be produced from each hide. Design and layout—ILRI Editorial and Publishing Services, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Enspire leather is an innovative material made from leather scraps that would otherwise go to waste. Meanwhile mineral-tanned, garment, bonded, and plastic leathers have a shorter useful life. Stouffville Ontario In addition to styles, we have a wide range of sizes and cuts of leather goods available. Not only does leather tanned outside the country require more oil and gas for shipping back and forth (in many cases, the hides are sent from the US to developing countries for tanning, and then sent back to the US as tanned hides) – but in those developing countries, one of the reasons the tanning is cheaper is because they have less environmental laws, allowing them to pollute more at lower cost. We take our commitment to sustainability seriously and lay it out transparently in our Sustainability Declaration. For example, aniline and nubuck leathers require the best quality hides. In the series, we go through the different kinds of leather and the different ways it is tanned and finished, then talk about how leather as a raw material is turned into products, how to tell good leather products in the store, how those products should be maintained, and what ethical leather choices are.

Please share with your community... Steve is the Founder, President and Owner of Blackstock Leather Inc. Blackstock is well known for their high quality leather solutions for architectural and interior designs. Faux leathers (and mineral-tanned leathers) are more like fabrics that drape, whereas our products need a leather with a unique combination of structural rigidity and flexibility. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. I’m not the only one searching for a more ethical … While not all tanneries and leather suppliers are equal in their commitment to sustainability, recent developments by a few have led to significant improvements in the industry as a whole. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Leather outlasts the most durable fabrics and will remain hardy through exposure to sun, heat, and years of wear. Mineral-tanned leathers use salts and metals in tanning, which creates wastewater pollution problems. As interior design regulation continues to be passed in legislatures across the United States and Canada, professionals' ethical practices will be under even more scrutiny. Leather combines traditional aesthetic and ancient techniques with contemporary innovations to meet the needs of today’s interiors. Leather is a great option for busy spaces and lifestyles. Key Issues in Leather 1. But what happens when you’re out in the wild, in a store or shopping online? Only the very best hides, about 5 percent or so, are used for aniline leather because all surface marks remain visible. Decorative reindeer hides are used in interior design for private homes, holiday homes, restaurants, hotels and experience destinations. The Leather Guy has worked for over 22 years to build partnerships with many different leather tanneries all across the globe. Leather is animal hide that is cleaned of hair, treated (or ‘tanned’) to preserve it and then finished with a specific colour, embossing or feel. We embrace these markings to the fullest as they reflect each animal’s natural habitat. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Ministry of Agriculture and International Livestock Research Institute. Canada L4A 3Y7, Blackstock Leather North America Your Inspirations, Our Craftsmanship. As an incredibly versatile and strong luxury material, leather can be made into almost anything – shoes, pants, shirts, sofas, chairs, and even table tops. Because I think of the current options, it’s the one that I’ll use the longest and that seems be most durable. Raw hide: a leather worker in a tannery in Dhaka poses with hundreds of skins. One of the easiest environmental choices a customer can make is to choose to buy durable, repairable, long-lasting goods with a long lifecycle. Here, we’re taking a look at what the term “ethical leather” really does — and should — mean. This includes some “exotic leathers” such as snake or alligator where the hide is more valuable than the meat (see Lesson #2). Leather outlasts the most durable fabrics and will remain hardy through exposure to sun, heat, and years of wear. Here are 5 practical reasons to use leather for your next Interior Design project. Hugo Boss makes sneakers out of this vegan leather. For those that do not agree with the choice of real leather, the other options for a leather alternative include petrochemical-based and vegetable fiber leathers, which are discussed further in our post about kinds of leathers (Lesson #2). All our rugs are made of discarded offcuts from the luxury leather goods industry. Hides are graded by number with one being the highest quality and three being the lowest. 13383 Kennedy Road ( Log Out /  Plastic leathers are inexpensive and the alternative of choice for animal rights concerns. At the same time, leather becomes more supple and develops character as it ages, which makes it a wise investment indeed. Stouffville Ontario Each piece is carefully sorted into over 30 shades of cowhide ready to be used to form one of our Beautiful rugs. Classic for Mercedes is Full Grain leather with a strong bold print. Mercedes Classic. We practice our Sustainability Policy in all aspects of our operations, but we’re particularly proud of our Upcycled Collection, with products like the Earbud Organizer. In society, we are conditioned to believe that it is acceptable behaviour to eat meat and use animals for our purposes because “they were put on this Earth for our use.” I am a critical thinker and naturally think that all human beliefs should be challenged. Common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs, and such aquatic … While commonly associated with luxury and status, leather is also a natural material that can bring a timeless beauty to any space. 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