EMERGING GLOBAL TRENDS IN LEATHER AND FASHION

EMERGING GLOBAL TRENDS IN LEATHER AND FASHION

                                                                                               By: Ruchi Singh Faculty FDDI

As the global population is booming leading to inevitable implications on livestocks, as demand for food and shelter has grown many folds concluding in an alarming scarcity of lands meant for animal rearing.

 It is clear that trends have to be predicted tentatively, taking into consideration possible drastic changes. Fashion consumers are becoming more Eco conscious. They prefer eco friendly materials, a conservation-minded use of resources, reduced emission of pollutants, greater social commitment, and a fair treatment of employees in production facilities.

 The presence of a large number of players in the sector has intensified the competition to garner a larger chunk of market share of this lucrative industry. On the demand front, consumers are rapidly aligning towards new designs and innovative leather offerings to ensure they are in synch with changing fashion trends. Another factor that needs to be taken into account is the rise of the  BRICS economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).Their dominant position in the labour-intensive textile and leather industries makes it difficult for other countries to follow suit.

The leather goods industry is on a growth spree offlate, owing to high demands. The vertical is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 3.4 percent over the next five years, and will touch $91.2 billion mark by the year 2018.

The softest, most luxurious leather comes from the skin of newborn or even unborn calves, which is unethical. Though its a very durable and flexible material, but the process of tanning leather is incredibly toxic. Most is chrome tanned, which results in carcinogenic chromium (VI) being pumped into the water table.

In many countries, the quality standards are very high and leather manufactures are trying to produce more sustainable products, by prohibiting harmful dyes and chemicals. Yet unfortunately, only the fewest customers are willing to pay more for these greener products. One pioneer of this trend is renowned fashion designer - Stella McCartney, who is using eco- friendly material for her shoes and handbags collections.

 Innovation in luggage and leather goods with new technologies and design is the major driving force for the industry. LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, Coach, Inc., Kering SA, Prada S.p.A, and Hermes International SCA are some of the major manufacturers of the luggage and leather goods industry at present.

Professors at the  university of Delaware chemical and are now developing artificial eco-leather that can be used to make shoes, handbags and plethora of other fashion accessories. Mr.Richard Wool, director of the University of Delaware said at the 17th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference in Bethesda, “We’re basically taking aerospace engineering of highly complex materials and using it to make wearable items that offer a much better design for consumers than the original design from an animal would be. And it’s all green and sustainable.”

The conference, which regularly attracts scientific leaders from around the world, is sponsored by the American Chemical Society’s Green Chemistry Institute.

The Affordable Composites from Renewable Sources program, headed by Wool began developing what he calls “eco-leather” four years ago in collaboration with Huantian Cao, an associate professor in the university’s fashion and apparel studies department. The researchers hope their efforts will lead to the development of mass-produced apparel and footwear made from renewable resources.
Eco-leather is made with natural fibers such as flax or cotton mixed with palm, corn, soybean and other plant oils that are laminated together in layers to create something that looks and feels as if it came from an animal. It’s breathable. It’s not like plastic. Unlike real leather, which requires tanning — a process that releases potentially toxic materials into the environment — the materials in eco-leather are sustainable and produce a low carbon footprint. The product is stiff, it’s difficult to work with and the stitching breaks. So right now, with the techniques available is to make shoes, we couldn’t use the material at this stage. But it is promising for the future.”

 Interest in the Eco- leather material is growing, Brands like Nike, Puma and Adidas have requested samples of it so that they can experiment with this new, green product.

If we can use plants to make a bio-based material that replaces something like leather that has all sorts of environmental and social concerns surrounding it. It could be a very good substitute of leather in future.

The designers love it because it gives them a whole element of design that they didn’t have before when they were trying to work with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as artificial leather.

To conclude, we can say that we’re finally on the verge of achieving a new dimension in the leather technological strata. This shall also enable us to grow mature enough to abolish animal slaughtering and be more nature conformist.