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Fashion
BAGS WITH PURPOSE
Discover the ethical luxe leather baguettes and vegan leather hobos that do not sacrifice style for sustainability. Scroll our selection of standout sustainable bags of the season from the latest inventions from Mulberry and signature Stella’s to the Instagrams-sets new IT tote by Yuzefi all made with the environment in mind.
THE LEATHER WORKING GROUP
It’s little wonder that top handbag designers, such as Mulberry and Chloé, are ensuring the tanneries producing the leather behind their coveted creations are environmentally focused, and audited to the highest quality and sustainable industry-standard, namely The Leather Working Group (LWG). This not-for-profit membership organisation promotes sustainability across the leather supply chain. Their objective is simple, to develop a protocol that creates alignment on environmental priorities, bringing visibility to best practices and providing suggested guidelines for continual improvement within the leather industry. In order to get LWG certification, tanneries have to undergo rigorous auditing on everything from wastewater and chemical disposal to monitoring traceability and energy consumption.
MULBERRY
Members of the Leather Working Group since 2012, these legendary satchel makers use leather that is a by-product of food production. Just six months ago they launched their first 100% sustainable leather bag, the Portobello, crafted from heavy grain leather from an LWG gold standard tannery and using Epic EcoVerde thread, a recycled polyester fibre.
By AW20 Econyl will replace all virgin nylon in Mulberry bags and accessories.
YUZEFI
Preservation of skill and crafts is top of the agenda for Yuzefi, engaging the expertise of local artisans handmaking their bags in small workshops in rural Spain. Another upside to this is the reduction of these brands carbon footprint as a result. Unsurprisingly these traditional skills are more eco-friendly than an assembly line. Yuzefi takes this even further by using only by-products materials, scraps that might not have been given a chance to become something beautiful. Better still these scraps are also sourced from The Leather Working Group approved tannery, proving to be sustainable at each point of production.
I think one of the biggest compliments is when I know people go in and buy a Falabella bag and they have no idea they’re not real leather. I think that’s really where it becomes sexy. Where you’re not just providing an alternative…you’re creating a great product.
Stella McCartney in Vogue, 2017.
STELLA MCCARTNEY
One generation on from Linda McCartney, Stella brought the vegetarian ethos of her upbringing into her brand declaring to never use leather, fur or feather in any of her designs. At the time of her launch nineteen years ago this was unprecedented to have vegan leather in a luxury brand, but soon Stella McCartney became the benchmark for quality leather alternatives and best environmental practice. Her iconic tough-luxe Falabella bags in gunmetal-tones have been sported by Rihanna, Salma Hayek and Kate Moss, are made of alter-nappa from polyester and polyurethane, has a recycled polyester backing and coated with vegetable oil. Although more environmentally friendly than leather, this fabric is not without its environmental impact and the brand is looking into reducing this, recycled and bio-based alternatives and even lab-grown leather.
Using recycled polyester instead of Brazilian calf leather creates 24 times less of an environmental impact, as calculated through the Environmental Profit and Loss.
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MORE TO READ
In want of a Falabella? Learn more about Ms. McCartney in 5 Ways Stella Continues to Lead the Way in Sustainability.