Your Salad Lunches Are Killing American Leather
8th November 2015
Of course, the animal-rights-fascists are okay with that.
Leather has always been a byproduct of the meat industry, and as Americans’ beef consumption grew over the 20th century, the leather industry grew with it. The past three decades, though, have seen a decline of about 28 percent in Americans’ appetite for beef, and the supply of hides has dwindled accordingly. At the same time, drought in the Midwest has pushed up feed prices. The result is that America has fewer and more expensive cows. Meanwhile, the world’s consumers still want leather goods.
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Howlett speaks with a Kentucky twang, where “can” sounds like “kin,” and is so close to her workers that she takes cigarette breaks with them outside her office. She drives a late-model Subaru Outback that’s adorned with “COEXIST,” “Member of the religious left,” and Human Rights Campaign bumper stickers. She bristles at the suggestion that tanneries are bad for the environment. Her facilities include a filtering system connected to the town’s wastewater treatment plant, and most of the tannery’s byproduct is recycled. “Contrary to popular opinion, those who make leather don’t want to be the bad guy,” Howlett says. “My vegan friends say, ‘Oh no, your leather shoes are from an animal,’ and I say, ‘Well, do you know where it would be if it wasn’t on my feet? In a landfill.’?”