Episode 45: Vegan leather is a lie. Making alternative materials the right way
Lots of brands are touting their all-natural, recyclable materials. This week, hear from the company behind those materials: Natural Fiber Welding, or NFW
I’m definitely due for a deeper dive into the fashion industry, and efforts to make it more sustainable. This week’s podcast is a super broad look at not just fashion, but materials, writ large—from our clothes to the seats in our cars to purses and shoes and belts and on and on. The way we make things is a huge part of the sustainability story, as is the way we make the stuff we use to make stuff. (Just read it a couple more times, it’ll make sense.)
Take vegan leather. It’s vegan, which is good because you don’t have to raise, feed, water, and kill an animal for your shoes or purse or belt. But it’s bad because most leather alternatives are actually … well. Plastic. They’re derived from fossil fuels, mainly petroleum. And even fibers that start out natural might be coated in toxic chemicals to make them more durable or waterproof or similar.
That can make shopping hard, not to mention giving the world reasons to keep extracting oil that should stay in the ground if we’re going to hit net zero by 2050 or hopefully before.
So what to do when brands like Stella McCartney, Patagonia, Pangaia, BMW, Eames, and Allbirds are all touting all-natural, recyclable fibers and shoe insoles and leather replacements? Well, this week on the podcast, I’m talking with the company that makes materials for those brands, at least.
Luke Haverhals is the founder of Natural Fiber Welding, or NFW, which is working to replace toxic, synthetic materials with natural, regenerative alternatives.
Luke is a former chemistry professor who grew up on a farm, and he told me we could power the entire human materials economy with just the byproducts of our agricultural activity. The company makes a leather replacement called Mirum, fabrics called Clarus, a footwear outsole called Pliant, and a foam product called Tunera, all from natural materials that do not include chemical additives of any sort.
And, like some of my other favorite startups, NFW integrates into existing manufacturing processes, and all its materials can be easily recycled at end of life.
Hear Luke on the podcast here and please rate, review, and share the podcast with your friends! Oh, and a tip on the leather versus vegan leather front: if you aren’t sure where the faux leather came from, I recommend just buying thrifted leather. Why buy new at all, right?
See you next week!