How Vegan Leather Is Greenwashing The Automotive Industry
How Vegan Leather Is Greenwashing The Automotive Industry
Gerhard HornFri, June 5, 2026 at 10:01 PM UTC
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Mercedes-Benz
Despite being a self-contradictory term, 'vegan leather' is so hot right now. If you want to make the ultimate environmentally-friendly statement, you have to order an electric car with a vegan leather interior. But the words "vegan" and "leather" can't coexist next to each other because leather, by definition, is a material made from the skin of an animal using tanning or other processes to keep it from rotting.
We've just started this article, and already we're staring down the first problem. "Vegan leather" is a term made up by marketing people because leather has always been associated with high-quality, upmarket vehicles. The reason marketing departments keep using it is because 'fake leather' and 'plastic leather' don't sound as sexy.
What Does Vegan Even Mean?
Tesla
The word "vegan" is defined as a "person who does not eat any food derived from animals and who typically does not use other animal products." Why, then, keep on using the word leather, which is intrinsically connected to animals?
As you can tell, I'm not amused by the concept of vegan leather, and not just because the term is mutually exclusive. My annoyance stems from the sheer amount of greenwashing used to push fake leather, now sold as an optional extra or an eco-friendly alternative.
The issue is that so-called vegan leather has been around for ages, previously known as leatherette and vinyl. It's nothing new, but it has undergone a massive PR boost because you don't need to kill a cow to make it. But just because it's vegan-friendly doesn't mean it's environmentally friendly. Those are two very different things.
Basically, manufacturers are still using materials derived from good old-fashioned petroleum plastic. This much was pointed out by a study done by the Flik Freiburg Institute.
Vegan Leather Is Not A New Concept
Mercedes-Benz
While researching this topic, I found several vegan blogs ranking manufacturers and the environmentally friendly seat cladding they offer. Brands that score well offer seats covered in MB-Tex, SofTex, and Sensatec. These are the base seat options for Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and BMW.
Vegans rank these options highly because no cows were harmed. Some brands, like Toyota, also promote SofTex as the eco-friendly option, at least on a dealer level. The claim is that SofTex produces 85% fewer CO2 emissions and 99% fewer "Volatile Organic Compounds."
The problem is that SofTex is thermoplastic polyurethane, which is what most companies use to make leatherette, which is what we used to call vegan leather.
In short, what used to be the cheap option has suddenly become a big selling point for automakers. Why have a cow killed to clad your Camry if you can go the SofTex route and save a life?
Biodegradable Conundrum
Cars & Bids
Thermoplastic polyurethane and vinyl work well as seat-covering materials. They're robust, look almost the same as leather, and you can wipe them down with a cloth. That's why they have been the standard for base models for so long. The issue is that both materials rely heavily on fossil fuels for production, and only some specially designed thermoplastic polyurethane is biodegradable. PVC does not biodegrade, despite clever marketing names like BioPVC.
The chemicals used to make certain leatherette biodegradable are also an issue. It's not particularly environmentally friendly, and as it lies there rotting on the landfill, it releases all sorts of chemicals and microplastics into the air.
The main takeaway here is that these so-called vegan options can't biodegrade by themselves, and even if they do, we're just swapping a macroplastic problem for a microplastic one.
Real Leather Is Not Much Better
To treat leather for use in cars, the hide has to go through several chemical processes. That's why it smells so lovely. There's no denying that this also hurts the air quality and releases toxins into the water supply.
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We've known this for a while. There's a small city in India called Kanpur. It's home to 2.5 million people and more than 300 leather tanneries. They use water and chromium to tan the leather, 90% of which goes to the UK and US.
This kind of treatment also makes genuine leather biodegradation-resistant, but manufacturers are exploring new ways of working the hide without damaging the environment. BMW, for example, uses olive leaf extracts to tan the leather inside a BMW iX.
Bentley
Another solution to this problem is to track the leather. Rolls-Royce and Bentley have systems to ensure their hides come from the best possible places. As you might know, they prefer bulls to cows, which need to come from Northern Europe so there are no bug bites. These bulls also roam free, so there are no blemishes from fences.
Because these companies are so niche, they can trace the hide from the moment a bull goes through an extreme exfoliation process. They can also track the tanning process to ensure no toxic chemicals are used and that water sources aren't contaminated. If you want to be a supplier, you must agree to a stringent set of rules to ensure nothing is harmed and goes to waste.
Benefits Of Using Leather
Rolls-Royce
Cows are grown for meat and not for leather. Leather is just a fortunate upside of humans being omnivores. Since animal hides are a byproduct of our eating habits, leather is upcycling. You may have heard it takes roughly three cows to trim a car, but that's not true. More often than not, your vehicle's interior will consist of more animal skin than that. The chances of the leather on the front headrests coming from the same cow are almost zero unless you're shopping in Bentley and Rolls-Royce territory.
Leather works because we use the entire cow. Only 60% of a cow is used for meat. The blood and guts are used for dog or cat food. The bones are usually ground down into a powder, which has many applications. The hooves are used for fertilizer and the foam in fire extinguishers.
And, of course, the hides are processed for leather. If the leather is not used, it's tossed. So, if you don't order a car with leather seats, those hides will be thrown away, and they will rot.
Once again, leather is not the main product. Hides are a byproduct, and if they're treated to become leather, they just so happen to match the lifespan of a car. That cow is taking a bolt no matter what seat cladding you order. By opting for leather, you're actually reducing global waste and giving Daisy a new lease on life.
What's The Solution?
Chrysler
The current vegan leather options aren't sustainable. Chrysler's Halcyon Concept has a 95% recyclable interior. If concept cars aren't even 100% recyclable, what chance does a current production car have? But perhaps Mercedes-Benz is onto something with its cactus-based leather, which debuted in the Vision EQXX, another concept car.
The Kia EV9 is a great example of what the industry is capable of now, but it's still not perfect. For interiors to be completely eco-friendly, they need to rely on materials created by Mother Nature herself (like leather).
As you can see, there's a lot of greenwashing going on in the industry currently. We're being told about animal-friendly and vegan leather, but it's just the same old leatherette that's been given a rebranding. Thankfully, there are people in the industry who are calling the industry out.
McLaren
The most famous example is Bridge of Weir, a leather producer and supplier to McLaren, Jaguar Land Rover, Polestar, and Aston Martin. Even this high-end leather supplier does not kill cows solely for their leather. Even at the high end of the market, leather is a byproduct.
Manufacturers are working hard to find a sustainable option, but the only realistic versions are currently found in concept cars. It takes time to change an entire industry. We get that. But please don't give existing seat cladding like vinyl a rebrand and sell it as vegan.
Jared Rosenholtz/CarBuzz/Valnet
What irks me most is the general lack of knowledge about the topic. People love to boast about a vegan leather interior but fail to realize where the most leather is going. Mahi, a maker of fine leather in India, explained which industry uses the most leather. Half of the leather produced is going to footwear, and I'm willing to bet a large percentage of people with eco-friendly interiors drive around in leather shoes.
Leather remains the best because it's a byproduct. Either we use it, or it ends up in the dump. Poor old Daisy's record of being 100% usable dips to 80%, and all because vegan leather is, like, so hot right now.
Source: “AOL Money”
