Inspect an electric car and you are likely to find the seat material labelled as “vegan leather”. This self-contradicting term covers trim that ranges from very plasticky to, well, quite leathery.The Maserati GranTurismo Folgore’s interior is upholstered in Econyl, a regenerated nylon product from Italian company Aquafil.
Unsurprisingly, the leather industry is fighting the trend, and claims there’s a fair bit of greenwashing involved. Bridge of Weir, the Scottish supplier of high-grade hides to Aston Martin, McLaren and others, says many vegan leathers aren’t as durable or sustainable as claimed and, even when promoted as recycled, require “new virgin plastic to fully manufacture them”.
Bridge of Weir describes leather as the “ultimate upcycled material”. It says it is solely a byproduct of the meat industry, and no cattle are bred solely for leather as it represents only about 1 per cent of the value of the animal., claims it is greener than leather, and says its processes generate only 10 per cent the carbon footprint of using new plastics. It lists among its clients BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Maserati plus fashion brands Burberry, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.