Vegan Leather VS Animal Hide Leather

[windblowlc]

Aren’t cows vegans?

Hmm! ?

Sponsored

 

[dp351]

It's true, but one IS worse than the other. And non-petroleum based "leathers" are starting to appear in higher end brands which usually means less expensive versions will be available in the future.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/vegan...ustainable-but-its-better-than-the-real-thing

This article compares fake plastic leather to leather from cows from the deforested Amazon, and based on that comparison, the plastic wins. But what about leather from other locations?

I’m curious much leather from the millions (billions?) of US meat & dairy cows goes to waste. How much of that could be used instead of oil & chemicals?

I’m sure someone could easily write the same story with data slanted in the opposite direction and conclude that leather is more sustainable.

I don’t mind having plastic on my car seats if it’s more comfortable & lasts longer than leather, and I encourage continued research to create better materials. But I will not happily accept an inferior product because someone else decides to ram their virtue signaling down my throat.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Oh yeah - it was always a big deal when someone got those 2 rear speakers replaced! It was like a neighborhood event. Ironically even in 92 I could still find 8 track cassettes at some thrift stores so I would buy them even though they sounded terrible.

Bad sound quality and…
KA-CHUNK
…it got interrupted, too.

 

[SoCal Rob]

As long as we don't return to this

I’m sure I’m in a tiny minority but I’d prefer modern seats of cloth trimmed with vinyl or vegan leather. Cloth feels warmer in winter and cooler in summer even without heating and ventilation. I really like the cloth Volvo is using:

 

[R1Tom]

I’m sure I’m in a tiny minority but I’d prefer modern seats of cloth trimmed with vinyl or vegan leather. Cloth feels warmer in winter and cooler in summer even without heating and ventilation. I really like the cloth Volvo is using:

Good cloth is indeed very nice.

 

[R1Tom]

Bad sound quality and…
KA-CHUNK
…it got interrupted, too.

Or a bit of distorted sound, eject tape and find out the tape decided to wrap around a wheel!

 

[domoplaytime]

Aren’t cows vegans?

FWIW, I'm mostly vegan but the part of me with a sense of humor isn't.

 

[mini2nut]

Gotta love the Porsche 911 cloth seat inserts…

 

[NY_Rob]

My i3 has cloth seats... and they are very comfortable. I like them better then the leather seats in our Model 3.
I had Toyota's premium synthetic leather substitute "Softex" in my 2012 Plug-in-Prius and it was really nice. Soft, but tough and stain resistant.. I drove that car every day for a year (wearing mostly black jeans) and it still looked like new when I traded it in for the Volt. That was 10yrs ago now so it's possible Toyota has improved their Softex even more over the last decade.

 

[COdogman]

This article compares fake plastic leather to leather from cows from the deforested Amazon, and based on that comparison, the plastic wins. But what about leather from other locations?

I’m curious much leather from the millions (billions?) of US meat & dairy cows goes to waste. How much of that could be used instead of oil & chemicals?

I’m sure someone could easily write the same story with data slanted in the opposite direction and conclude that leather is more sustainable.

I don’t mind having plastic on my car seats if it’s more comfortable & lasts longer than leather, and I encourage continued research to create better materials. But I will not happily accept an inferior product because someone else decides to ram their virtue signaling down my throat.

Well we already know that raising cattle is bad for the environment. So regardless of where those cattle are raised it is doing damage. Raising more would just add to it. And cutting down rainforest (essentially the lungs of the planet) to raise cattle basically doubles down on that, so no, there isn’t a sustainable way to do that.

And that doesn’t even get into the rest of the leather making process, which in most parts of the world includes highly toxic chemicals that poison water supplies and the people who work with it.

I’m not a fan of the oil based process either, but as I stated earlier, it will soon be made from plants.

“Virtue signaling” is just a made up term used by people who can’t accept change.

 

[COdogman]

Bad sound quality and…
KA-CHUNK
…it got interrupted, too.

So true! I do NOT miss those days. Now look at us - driving electric trucks with 20 speaker sound systems.

 

[R1Tom]

So true! I do NOT miss those days. Now look at us - driving electric trucks with 20 speaker sound systems.

Let's not forget those mechanical wonders that somehow you would pull the chrome button out, and somehow it then "remembered" that FM station.

And my Camaro had Vegan leather too. It was just called vinyl then and had all these little divots in as surface finish. Like a golf ball surface. And when I got up, with shorts on, I would stick and then have little dots all over my legs till my skin reset.

 

[NY_Rob]

So true! I do NOT miss those days. Now look at us - driving electric trucks with 20 speaker sound systems.

Like a BOSS! ?

I grew up in the cassette era.. and I hated them. Too inconsistent, mostly due to the fact that the factory tapes used the lowest quality/thinnest tape and absolute garbage 20 cent housings. Top of the line Maxell cassettes were way better but were still woefully poor especially compared to CD's which finally gave us decent audio quality in our vehicles.

 

[COdogman]

Like a BOSS! ?

I grew up in the cassette era.. and I hated them. Too inconsistent, mostly due to the fact that the factory tapes used the lowest quality/thinnest tape and absolute garbage 20 cent housings. Top of the line Maxell cassettes were way better but were still woefully poor especially compared to CD's which finally gave us decent audio quality in our vehicles.

So true about the cassettes! I loved The CD era. I had so many of those CD organizer cases laying all over the place - in my house, in my car, in my locker at school. The only negative with CDs was the lack of a good portable player that could be used when running, etc. And even the best portable CD player was still huge compared to a cassette walkman. Oh, and having to stop your car and get in your trunk to change the CDs in your fancy “CD changer”

 

[ironpig]

As long as we don't return to this

What? My Rivian doesn't even have ashtrays.

That's real luxury.

Sponsored