FOR A BETTER PLANET
Since the climate crisis is the most serious global issue at present, it is time to face the impact of what we consume and consider deeply sustainability for a better planet in future.
* Sustainability : It is the ability that people safely co-exist and develop without depleting natural resources for future.
THE IMPACT OF
ANIMAL LEATHER
It is an undeniable fact that animal skins have been essential to humans for centuries. Even today, the global leather industry slaughters more than a billion animals every year, which has a huge impact and damage on the environment.
REALITY 1 :
ACCELERATION OF
GLOBAL WARMING
18% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture, it is more than all of the global transportation systems combined.
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Especially, cattle emits massive amounts of methane and nitro oxide, gases with global warming potential much greater than CO2.
HEAVY USE OF NON-RENEWABLE
RESOURCES ; LAND, WATER AND FUEL
Farming animals has occupied 45% of the earth’s land and 91% of Amazon rainforest has been cleared for growing their feed crops.
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It consumes 20~33% of all fresh water in the world. Even livestock pollution is the greatest threat to the our waterways.
It requires huge amounts of fossil fuels, especially, cow leather has almost three times environmental impact as its synthetic materials.
HAZARDOUS LEATHER TANNING
Leather tanning is the one of world’s most dangerous industry to health and environment. It is the process of turning skin into leather, and it requires enormous amount of energy and toxic chemicals to prevent from rotting and produces lots of pollutants.
REALITY 2 :
THE IMPACT OF
SYNTHETIC LEATHER
That does not mean synthetic leather is better. There is no question that it claims to be vegan leather. However, synthetic leather is typically made from synthetic fibers, polyurethane or PVC coatings, which is 100% plastic. Please don't be tempted by its cheap price.
100% PLASTIC ​
Because synthetic leather is made from plastics come from petroleum, which is a fossil-fuel, it contributes to global warming by increasing carbon emission.
HARD TO DECOMPOSE
It can survive for hundreds years, and it sticks to the environment for a long time, threatening the lives of animals and humans.
HARMFUL TOXINS
Fully synthetic oil-derived materials PVC is ecologically hazardous by spreading toxic chemical from production to decomposition.
THEN,
WHAT ABOUT
VEGATEX® researches and develops a sustainable leather alternative with a low impact on environment, unlike animal cruelty or synthetic materials.
SOLUTION
FIND A SOLUTION IN WASTE
Our innovation is finding new uses for materials that already existe right in front of us.
LOW ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
As no additional environmental resource to produce for raw materials, it can minimize the environmental impact. It does not need the land, water and fossil-fuel to produce the new crops by recycling waste. We can save greenhouse gases and carbon footprint.
STABLE SUPPLY
As long as the beverage industry does not disappear, a stable supply of raw materials is possible.
RECYCLING
We explore how to reuse waste and focus on recycling renewable resources derived from plant-based resources.
THE SUSTAINABILITY OF
VEGATEX® are seriously aware of the climate crisis, and never compromise our value for environment. Our technology and material selection are all about the better planet.
UPCYCLING
We rediscover the possibility and potential of waste and create high value by recreating it into sustainable textiles.
MINIMAL FOSSIL FUEL
COMSUMPTION
We utilize plant-based resources to minimize and replace synthetics derived from fossil fuels. In addition, water-based Polyurethane is used instead of conventional oil-based polyurethane, and up to 30% can be replaced with the plant-based resources.
BIOBASED
Certified by USDA to be up to 66% bio-based.
CERTIFIED VEGAN
100% animal-free
CARBON FOOTPRINT
It is clear that VEGATEX® Skins have a significantly lower environmental impact compared to synthetic or animal leathers. While accurately calculating our carbon footprint at commercial-scale is currently limited, we plan to regularly conduct life cycle accessement(LCA) and use this data to minimize our impact in order be transparent with our partners.
We will keep sharing more information on VEGATEX®'s carbon footprint.