Leather Alternatives in 2025: Plant-Based Leather

Everybody’s talking about plant-based leather this year, the animal-friendly alternative to lush leather clothing. In fact, according to a global marketing forecast, the sustainable textile market is expected to double in the next three years. They’re discussing a surge from £85,000 to £1.7 million, as this type of material has become the popular choice of notable designers like Adidas, Stella McCartney and BAM. This is perfectly understandable considering that real leather has the highest environmental impact of all materials used by the fashion industry, according to PETA.

Unlike animal leather, which has the highest environmental impact of all materials used in the fashion industry, most plant-based leather materials have a comparatively good sustainability index.

This should come as no surprise. The global fashion market is constantly reminded that it’s better to use environmentally friendly alternatives to any product that will harm animals and the environment, such as leather, wool, silk and various synthetic materials. (Synthetics like nylon and polyester are often produced using harmful chemicals in the fabrics.) Then there are textile dyes (such as chlorine bleach and formaldehyde, heavy metals, benzidine and other substances) that we use to colour fabrics. These also harm the environment.

Why the Trend Towards Alternative Leather?

We’ve written about the move towards more sustainable and responsible business practices to halt the fast fashion, which has taken the world by storm. (Read our informative blog on Sustainable Textile Dyeing and Textile Innovations and our take on Fast Fashion Clothing.)

Choosing vegetable leather is just another of the more sustainable practices being advocated; this involves finding eco-friendly alternatives that do not harm the environment or end up in landfills. This is the sustainable culture that fashion designers and other sustainability-conscious people in the industry currently focus on.

This escalating trend addresses the following:

1.     Stopping Animal Cruelty:

As its name implies, not one animal is harmed in producing this type of material made from plants. We know their production method is ethical and humane.

2.     More Eco-Friendly Material:

Aside from animal welfare, leather production also involves various environmental issues, such as water pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. Plant-based alternative leather materials are the opposite: they are manufactured from various sustainable, renewable materials, making them a green alternative.

3.     Hard-Wearing Alternatives:

Real leather is certainly durable, but so is leather material made from plants, which is also easy to keep clean and long-lasting.

4.     Inexpensive:

Leather items are more expensive than plant-based leather garments, as producers can use various plants to create this alternative material. Leather made from plants looks and feels very similar to authentic leather textiles, and can be sustainably dyed into numerous colours.

5.     More Sustainable:

It goes without saying: material manufactured from plants as an alternative to genuine leather is more environmentally friendly than harming or killing an animal for its pelt. Alternatives to leather made from plants are often similar in appearance and texture to leather, and are just as hard-wearing, making them a viable, extremely ethical choice.

Vegan Leather & The Global Rise of Plant-Based Materials

The term ‘vegan leather’ has been replaced worldwide with adjectives like ‘plant-based’ after Portugal banned the term in 2022. This was to stop misleading customers and also to stop people purchasing these products. 

One of the most sustainable alternatives to leather fabrics is made from pineapple leaf fibres (the pineapple leather produced is called Piñatex), which has become the chosen material for various global designers. Nike, Hugo Boss, Paul Smith and H&M all use pineapple leather.

Other sustainable plant-based materials t being used instead of leather include desserto, cactus leather, produced from the fibres of cactus plants in Mexico. It is extremely hard-wearing and flexible, so it’s a great leather alternative. Most faux leather manufacturers now use sustainable production processes that involve water-based or non-solvent solutions.

Is Faux Leather Good for the Environment?

Not all plant-based leather fabrics are created equal, and some are actually not sustainable. Some synthetic leathers are produced from plastic materials, and the processes used to manufacture these contribute to microplastic pollution.  Only biodegradable leather made from plants is environmentally friendly. It’s essential that you ensure that whatever alternative leather material you use is plastic-free, and not synthetic.

Leather Alternatives in the UK

The good news is that more and more clothing manufacturers are embracing alternative leather materials as well as other sustainable choices for fashion garments in the UK. Wearing faux fur instead of genuine leather is de rigeuer and a personal choice. The Fashion Week runways are filled with vegan puffer jackets, fabulous fur throws and jackets, and gorgeous shoes and accessories created from plant-based leather.

British designer Stella McCartney refuses to use leather or fur in her collections. She has partnered with US-based materials science company, Natural Fiber Welding Inc. (NFW) to develop a plastic-free alternative to leather called MIRUM®.

“Our goal is for all our virgin natural fibres to be sourced using regenerative materials, backed by scientific measurements and data,” it says on their website. “We are not there yet, but we are on our way.”

Another British-based business is Beyond Skin, which prides itself on being a “cruelty-free vegan footwear company”. Founded in 2001, the company has focused on reducing its carbon footprint and producing ethical fashion that doesn’t compromise on style. Their shoes are all hand-crafted in Spain. 

London has a few companies worth talking about. For starters, there is LaBante, known for its exquisite vegan leather product range created from recycled plastic bottles in a sweatshop-free factory in Guangzhou, China. Another design house based in London is Will’s Vegan Shoes, which manufactures fashionable, affordable, carbon-neutral shoes for men and women created from Italian and Spanish cereal crops. Notting Hill-based company Wilby calls itself “the premier sustainable and vegan accessories brand”. Every product is produced from organic, eco-friendly materials, including organic cotton, recyclable material, eco-friendly backing and cork leather.

Global Companies Manufacturing Alternative Leather

Those sustainable global brands producing alternatives to leather materials include:

1.     Gucci uses a leather alternative called “Eco-Vegetable Tanned Leather” to produce its bags and accessories. The design house focuses on sustainable sourcing and processing and innovates new solutions like this one. “We have set up projects in our own supply chain to help drive positive standards created by our parent company, Kering, which govern the sourcing and production of our leather,” the brand explains.

2.     Vivienne Westwood uses a leather alternative produced from vegetables to manufacture handbags and accessories. According to their website, leather alternatives they accept include “partially or fully bio-based PU leather, or, for our footwear ranges, innovations such as bamboo and apple fibres”.

3.      Japanese shoe and accessory company Belle & Sofa crafts designer shoes and handbags from alternatives to leather material.

4.     Danish company Leap believes it’s important to “Make Waste Beautiful”. Using apple waste from apple juice and apple cider production to replicate leather material, their idea was originally a university project. Today, it’s a successful company.

5.     Another Japanese company, Toray Industries, created a material called Ultrasuede® from 30% plant-based materials, such as sugarcane waste and castor oil. The company is currently focusing on producing a 100% plant-derived product. Brands using this stunning leather textile alternative include the design house Issey Miyake.

6.     Adidas collaborated with biotech company Bolt Threads to produce Stan Smith sneakers made from mushroom leather, a replicate leather that British designer Stella McCartney also uses. The Bolt Thread shoe is manufactured from mushroom leather and its midsoles comprise natural rubber.

7.     Luxury French design house Hermès used a textile created by Californian startup MycoWorks to manufacture vegetable alternatives to leather material called Sylvania, produced out of threads made of mushroom roots. Their first product is a travel bag.

8.     American designer Tommy Hilfiger uses fabrics made from apple fruit pulp created by Italian company Frumat, SRL for a zero-waste collection.

9.     Popular sneaker design house Veja ‘goes beyond leather’ with a bio-based material made from organic cotton canvas that is “coated with PU, ricinus oil and corn starch’. This innovative designer was one of the first to use Recycled Polyester to create an alternative to leather for their sneakers called ‘B-Mesh’. Their latest innovation is a plant-based leather for their CAMPO sneaker range, made from corn waste that took the brand five years to develop. The material is made from “a waxed canvas with 50% corn waste leftover from the food industry,” the brand tells us. These CAMPO sneakers are “up to 63% biodegradable”. The price is still high, but the sustainability is worth it!

Leather Innovations with Cork & Cactus

Chinese company HZCORK specialises in cork, a sustainable, renewable resource harvested from trees. One product it produces is a cork ‘leather material’, used to make a vast selection of fashion products, including handbags, shoes and other accessories, all using replicated leather material. 

British design house Vivienne Westwood continues “to explore alternative materials” such as cactus leather “to reduce the amount of leather we use overall.”

Leather Fabrics for Sustainable Fashion

Choosing leather alternatives is a great way to share your sustainability focus and show support against animal cruelty. As more and more clothing brands find ways to manufacture alternative leather fabrics without using pelts from animals, you are also able to join the throng who only wear plant-based, biodegradable and sustainable alternative leather material.

Avoid synthetic leather fabrics made from PVC, PU and polyester, which harm the environment, and are also not long-wearing. Be aware of how those synthetic materials impact the environment, our landfills and the climate.

Only wear garments made from organic materials that are the natural alternative to leather. Manufacturers are constantly innovating new ways to produce these fabrics from various plant-based products to avoid harming animals, including leather manufactured from apple skins, grape leather that’s created from grape skin, and everything in between.

To find out about further innovations in the fashion industry, check out our fascinating blog on Smart Clothing & Fabrics for Sports, Health & Fashion Garments. You can also find out all about the latest innovations in Sustainable Fabric Dyeing, which is our business at maake. 

Explore our fabrics for sustainable custom printing.