Where’s your leather coming from?

Have you ever thought about where the leather you wear comes from?

It could be coming from the Amazon rainforests, or at least where the rainforest used to be. Deforestation of this area is done to provide land for cows that supply both the fashion and meat industries. Not only is it spoiling a beautiful habitat for other animals, it is estimated that it produces 17% of the world’s carbon emissions.

Now environmental charity Greenpeace has been campaigning to shoe manufacturers such as Adidas, Clarks and Timberland to ensure that leather sourced from this area is not being used. Nike has confirmed that they will be finding new suppliers.

Greenpeace is delighted with the positive response from the fashion companies, but there is still work to be done. James Turner from Greenpeace says “What this does now is really put pressure on the UK food companies. The shoe companies have realised there is a problem and taken action, now it's up to the supermarkets to follow that lead.”

I think this is great, but what will happen to the cattle farms and farmers that are already there? Do you think that fashion companies should be paying closer attention to where they are sourcing their materials from, and the effect this is having on the environment?