Mildly Infuriating

I do hobby-level leatherworking and I'm all here for real non-animal leathers but yeah, basically all of them, cactus, mango, pineapple leaf etc. all just get put on a PU backing...

I got excited for cork leather at one point but turns out that is also either PU backed or fabric backed (which is better but doesn't really work as a direct replacement for leather, especially structurally).

There are a few I'm more excited for and I would love to get hold of but they still seem either experimental or used directly by the makers for their own finished products. Most are fungus based, so one is SCOBY leather, basically the big blob of microorganisms used to make kombucha can be grown in big flat sheets, dried and treated to make a leathery material but I've not seen many applications of it yet...

But mushroom/mycelial leather is the one I'm most hopeful for. Not only do some of them look like real leather but the random 'grain' of the mycelium has the potential to ape the natural fibrous grain of leather that gives it its strength. That is the one I'm really excited for.

I see the point of plant based leather not as necessarily being great now, but as demonstrating that there is demand for R & D to make a product that can meet or surpass the quality of leather later.

I guess petroleum came from plant.

I thought the point of the stuff was to avoid killing animals.

I don't really understand all the hate/cynicism towards vegan leather. Like yeah obviously plastic is bad for the environment, but raising cows and dumping thousands of tons of chromium into rural waterways for the tanning process aren't good either. Leather is actually far worse for the environment by some metrics.

Plus there's the fact that most leather is sealed with plastic/acrylic to increase its longevity anyway, unless you're buying something wicked expensive.

Not all plant based leather uses plastic. It's unfortunate that plant+plastic mixes are allowed to call themselves plant based leather.

Vegan leather is what they call plastic imitation leather nowadays

Polyurethane couldn’t sell the couches because it simply as sexy as plant-based leather.

Yeah I've had it with Will's Vegan Shoes. They use https://www.viridis-leather.it/faq.html and say it's "bio-based leather" but if you go to the link:

Is it recycled, recyclable or biodegradable?

No, it’s not but it expresses its sustainable content because it’s mainly produced using by-products from corn and wheat instead of petrolium based products. Bio polyols always available as renewable resources.

Which type of PU is Viridis® made of?

43 % of PU made using polyols coming from corn and wheat, 31 % of normal PU.

Vegetan Bucky basicly a micro fiber

It's almost as if another common term for vegan leather is PU Leather

Cause they know fools love buzzz words. That’s why I couldn’t find margarine until I realized it’s now “plant butter”

Just because a movie is "based" on a book doesn't mean the movie is made of paper.

Checkmate vegetables.

No hate, but leather and pb leather is gross to us idk how people like it. The texture is eugh

Because it is made from plant based materials? Like some LEGO parts are nowadays made from plant based materials.

Plants -> Ethanol -> Plastic

YSK: Cellulose can be made extremely durable and water resistent. The wallet I've been using for a decade now is made of cellulose. The stitching was kinda bad from the start, so I’ve had to repair it once. But the material itself is still holding stong. And it feels nice and is very grippy.