If you’re looking to manufacture products with China’s #1 Vegan Leather Supplier, look no further. If you are familiar with our blogs already, you would probably know how closely we work with Chinese factories and suppliers. We have contacted over 2,000 factories in China that specialize in manufacturing products like Vegan Leather Bags.
Many were skeptic of these ‘Vegan Leather’ materials that were being commercially used in manufacturing merchandise.
Due to the traditional nature of procuring leather, Vegan Leather quickly became marketed as “fake leather” to the general public. This is especially because of the cheaper costs involved in manufacturing Vegan Leather.
So what is Vegan Leather? And why is it making a come back?
Vegan Leather is otherwise known as Synthetic Leather, Artificial Leather, Faux Leather or Pleather. It became a popular substitute for manufacturing leather products, as it looked and feel like genuine leather.
However, both materials are completely different in terms of material components and manufacturing.
Vegan Leather: What Are Your Options?
There are actually a lot of alternatives available for leather, but only some are eco friendly. While all of the vegan leathers protect the rights of animals, only eco-friendly vegan leather can be guaranteed as a sustainable and ethical alternative to old school leather.
Here’s a list of eco-friendly Vegan leather alternatives that you might love to consider:
- Mushroom Leather
One of the latest eco-friendly alternatives to leather, this material can be treated without using polluting substances. At the end of its life, it becomes completely biodegradable and compostable.
On top of that, it is extremely lightweight and flexible too, which makes it effective for a wide range of products.
- Pinatex Leather
A non-biodegradable leather alternative made from cellulose fibres extracted from unused parts of pineapples.
- Vegan Cork Leather
An unconventional eco-friendly vegan leather made from the bark of Cork oats. Cork leather is known for having a smooth, shiny finish, an appearance that improves over time. It is water-resistant, flame resistant and hypoallergenic.
- Leaf Leather
An innovative plant-based leather alternative made from tree leaves. It’s better than traditional leather because it’s more environmentally friendly and created from tree leaves so it doesn’t require harming animals.
- Cactus Leather
A sustainable leather alternative made from Opuntia Cactus, also known as Nopal. Cactus leather is available in a few thickness options depending on whether it is to be used for accessories, shoes, or clothing. It also comes in a few colours.
If you require custom material for your promotional needs, your development will be subjected to a 400 linear meter MOQ. We can provide you with different textures, colours and backings to make your own material mix.
Manufacturing: Vegan Leather vs. Traditional Leather
In general, these Vegan Leather Bags are commonly made of Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and Polyurethane (PU).
With a trade network from our Chinese Suppliers, we’ve managed to source some of the biggest and cost-effective suppliers in China who offer a variety of PVC and PU product lines for mass manufacturing.
In contrast with Vegan Leather, traditional leather uses animal skin. The most common hide used in manufacturing traditional leather comes from cows.
It is not surprising that fully dyed leathers are more costly than semi-dyed leathers because it’s more difficult and time-consuming to find better-quality hides that can be dyed.
Natural leather usually uses vegetable tanning, which does not use chemicals to dye the leather and instead employs natural colouring methods such as tree bark and tannin.
This process takes much longer than other tanning methods, making the leather goods more costly.
Introducing animals into manufacturing significantly makes it more expensive to manufacture leather, because more resources are needed to harvest them.
Quality: Vegan Leather vs. Traditional Leather
As mentioned before, Vegan Leather Suppliers use PVC or PU to manufacture their products. PVC and PU are synthetic fibres that use chemicals, and a lot of petroleum.
This causes Vegan Leather to produce a unique smell, which is usually not the case with traditional leather.
Vegan Leather also is not as permeable as traditional leather, which is why it does not allow as much air to pass through. This becomes a disadvantage for Vegan Leather products when manufacturing clothes.
On top of that, Vegan Leather also does not age like traditional leathers.
This is a factor most leather enthusiasts value with traditional leathers – which no Vegan Leather Supplier has been able to replicate.
Like traditional leather, Vegan Leather can also be fireproof. However, this is not always the case. We can produce fire retardent PVC/PU materials at a low cost.
Vegan leather comes in several different forms and qualities, so some are more ‘leather-like’ than others.
Generally speaking, and focusing on good quality vegan leather, there isn’t that much difference to real leather.
Disadvantages: Vegan Leather vs. Traditional Leather
One disadvantage Vegan Leather has as compared to traditional leather is the use of chemicals in manufacturing. When burnt, Vegan Leather can produce toxins. However, this is also not always the case – because Vegan Leather suppliers are consistently adjusting the chemicals used in these Vegan Leathers in order to make them safer.
A disadvantage of using traditional leather is the nature of manufacturing it. To produce genuine leather, killing livestock is inevitable. Almost 150,000 cows are killed to produce genuine leather products. Therefore, the manufacturing of genuine leather will always be at the expense of an animal.
In this blog, our team compiled our top picks of promotional leather products that you might love to include in your next marketing campaign. Each item comes in a classy and contemporary style that will absolutely catch someone’s eye. Make sure to check it out!
Final Thoughts,
There will always be pros and cons between choosing these 2 types of leather. The benefits of these leathers will only be certain if you understand your target market.
After studying the promotional products market, we’ve realized that Vegan Leather offers more value to businesses, due to the cheap costs. However, it is also a great marketing strategy to align your branding with Vegan-friendly products. The Vegan Movement have shown an impressive cause, with many consumers now interested in protecting animal rights.
In particular, we’ve seen Vegan Leather become very successful with bags. Non-vegan consumers are much more forgiving with Vegan Leather bags because they don’t have to wear them.
Contact Us!
Are you interested in manufacturing/designing your own promotional/ Vegan Leather products? Contact us and we would love to assist you in your projects.
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