In many cases vegan consumers find themselves wearing leather goods, due to a lack of other options. Most of these, are leather items that were owned years before the transition to a more vegan friendly lifestyle, such as shoes, bags and belts. It has become increasingly difficult to find top quality non-leather goods on the high-street.
When shopping for animal friendly products, the issue is that we have to trust the seller, that what they are offering, is vegan and not in fact real leather. Shopping for vegan products can be a bit of a mine field, there are so many questions that arise, such as what are we looking for? How do we know the product is not leather? What makes something leather?
Don’t worry, we are here to help! Below are some facts you need to know before you start shopping, in order to avoid purchasing a belt that is partially or 100% genuine leather.
1. Look on the outside - Agreed mark
Products that are made of leather are often marked with the famous signature sign that tells us that the product is indeed made of genuine leather. Until the Vegan revolution, this sign attested to quality and prestige, but today, if there is an appropriate alternative that is not leather, this sign indicates that we should avoid buying the product. The "Leather butterfly" sign represents a view from above on a cowhide's skin (the neck is on the right side, two legs from above and two legs from below and the tail is on the left side), and If you see this symbol anywhere on the item, it usually means that this product is made of leather.
2. Look on the Inside
When we want to know the material of the belt we want to purchase, we need to look at the inner layers of the material. In many cases the outer layer that we touch is not made of leather but may have layers of genuine leather or processed leather inside. The places where we can clearly see what the belt is made of are the areas where there are holes or cuts in the material such as the belt holes or the groove to which the buckle is threaded.
In some cases, you can open the buckle and see clearly what material it is.
Pay attention! Do not do it rudely and do not destroy products in stores. Kindly ask a sales assistant to help you :)
3. Processed Leather
As part of the leather production process, the manufacturers are left with a lot of non-processed residues that are then later re-manufactured: Leather cutting leftovers, injured skin parts, and production defects are collected together and reused with various adhesives into a new material mix - similar to the paper recycling process. After the mixture is ready, they pour it on surfaces and create new sheets of material. The processed leather is very weak material and can be broken easily (unlike genuine leather). Therefore, the manufacturers place other materials around it, usually artificial/faux leather. You can identify the material by looking at its side and you will notice that the material is not uniform. You can clearly see different colors and different size of pieces and especially the difference between the outer material and interior.
The belts made from this material are very weak and will usually be destroyed after few months of use unlike our vegan belts.
4. Artifical/Faux Leather
Faux Leather is a type of fabric that is used for leather-like products. Faux leather is actually a strong canvas or cotton that is smeared with glue and it is covered with color (similar to the process of dyeing certain types of leather) that sticks to the fabric and can be designed using presses in different textures that gives it the appearance of leather - the most common is bridge leather, characterized by a bumpy appearance. One of the disadvantages of this material is that after a period of use, the paint begins to peel off and the canvas beneath it is exposed. This material is used in many industries such as: furniture, shoes, purses, bags, belts etc. – avoid buying a belt that is made of this material, because unlike other products, belts are constantly stretching and this fabric alone won’t be able to handle it so 99% of the faux leather belts internal material is processed leather, It will be better for you to not spend money on those belts !
Our vegan belts are made from several different types of rubber. The fact they are made of one layer of material makes them super strong and durable for many years!
You can check out our modest collection below and feel free to tell us what do you think about them and if is there anything else we can help with !
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