We all know that leather is expensive (especially vegetable-tanned leather). After a lengthy conversation with a well-versed, leather industry veteran, I learned a lot more about leather pricing.
Did you know that the cost of leather is directly correlated with the consumption of meat? Leather is a by-product of the meat industry. It makes sense when you think about it, but it’s not something you immediately think of when you think about leather. So every time you bite into a juicy burger, you may be playing a part in driving down leather prices.
When the economy takes a turn, a la 2008, people eat less meat because it’s too expensive. As a result, the demand for meat goes down, then the supply of hides goes down. And as basic economics dictates, inevitably the price of leather goes up as demand exceeds supply in that industry.
Hope you found this leather pricing info as interesting as I did!
The biggest struggle for me in becoming vegan has not been giving up eating animal products (effortless) but giving up leather (a massive failure). I’m finding it really hard (I love shoes, and quality, interesting shoes are hard to find without leather.)
“cost of leather is directly correlated with the consumption of meat” yes that makes sense actually !
however with the population growing world wide every year i would think more meat eaters and therefore the price should be going down..or am i mistaken?
I think the worldwide recession may be the biggest factor in the reduced consumption. I’ll let you know when the costs of leather go back down!
In college I had “vegan leather” shoes– which I realized later was just plastic. And where my toes bent the vegan leather cracked– and you could see my feet!