Blog Post 4: Leather

To make a single leather jacket, from cow to end product, the process requires 7,996 gallons of water. Tanneries in third world countries use water and harmful chemicals such as chromium to tan and dye the leather from a cowhide into a wearable garment. The chemicals used for tanning and dyes are then released into the streets and then end up in the run-off water, which then results into the drinking water. Countries that perform leather tanning and dying do not have access to filtration and purification devices for water like we do, therefore causing not only people but animals as well to become sick and sometimes die from these harmful chemicals. For example in India, dogs were drinking the water with blue dye and other harmful chemicals, causing them to turn blue. Other examples lie within the health of Indian villages that consume the polluted water.

Solutions for the leather industry are to create a filtration device for the chemical filled water before it is dumped onto the land, and also chemistry solutions to leather. The water from the tanneries filled with harmful chemicals and yes cannot be dumped ruthlessly into the water stream, therefore companies who commission the tanneries in India need to invent a filtration device that would allow tanneries to get rid of the chemicals in a less harmful way. Chemistry needs to be integrated into the leather tanning process and create more accessible non-harmful dyes and less harmful chemicals to tan the leather in the first place. Not only is the leather industry not sustainable, but also dangerous.

Comments

  1. Love how you emphatically state that leather processing is not only unsustainable, but also dangerous! Great last line. I also loved when you presented in class that you started with to change the fashion industry, we have to CHANGE the fashion industry... so WELL SAID,,, LOVE your photo/graphic of the leather processing water filtration system! That's the way to change things- is to design it! Well done Carly.

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