recent email to a concerned friend regarding manufacturing leather
hello!
jillian spoke of the lively discussion you two were having about the impacts of leather manufacturing.
i wanted to chime in as this is a topic i have thought about for years upon years.
As a conscious individual who sees the most for humanity, the leather and veganism debate is very close to my heart.
through all my research i came to the conclusion that in order to manufacture garments right now on this planet, someone has to get screwed somewhere.
there is no ethical option, at the level we are operating on now, for an impact-free manufacturing process.
as much as i do not like the tanning and dying process and the slaughter involved in leather, i do not like the petroleum-based economy that is destroying civilization as we know it even more and absolutely any synthetic fabrics such as polyester or pleather is petroleum based. as far as im concerned these fabrics are a part of a much larger problem than leather. our petroleum based culture is suffocating us. obviously we live in it and cant avoid driving cars that run on petroleum or using plastic derived from petroleum, but i personally do not want it on my body or to sell anything made from it.
So for outerwear and jackets that pretty much leaves you with leather. leather is the most durable, breathable, warm and protective substance because it is literally skin. there is nothing else like it. for generations it meant survival. it lasts extremely longer than other fabrics and moves and conforms like nothing else. i would love to find a sustainable way of procuring it. a system where the animals are treated with respect and the impact is minimal and i plan on developing this as soon as our company grows to the level it can afford the effort to do so. but for now we are stuck with what the industry has provided, like it or not. its like being a part of our culture means driving cars and using petroleum based plastics even though it is worst idea in history and we are burning from the inside out. there is no way around it right now in our society as it stands today.
and PETA can suck my left tit because as far as I’m concerned they have done more damage to the perception of animal rights than any other organization. im so sick of celebrities all up in arms about fur on billboards and then they go eat a fucking cheeseburger wearing their leather heels. isolating the issue to just fur is really dangerous because it ignores the impact we have on animals everywhere else in our life. our entire food industry is based on horrible practices regarding animals. but the vegan debate is also something i have thought long and hard about. ive gone from full on vegan to full on carnivore and everything in between. last year i wanted to have a relationship with the death of the animals i ate. i have that now. i eat clean deer burgers and do it with honor. ive come to the conclusion that the death of animals and the consumption of life is a necessary part of being alive on this planet.
research like the secret life of plants:
Exhibit D:
shows us that plants are just as much alive as we are, and even react emotionally to emotional stimuli. you only have to look as far as the forest to see life consumes life. each tree is clamoring for the sky and for each tree that has found a way to claim its little piece of sunshine there was another tree that was deprived of that light. there is no other way for life to exist. we have to consume life. animal or plant makes no difference, we are still taking life. that does not mean that the horrific practices of our modern society are acceptable, but it does make me realize that honoring the life you take is more important than isolating and justifying one form of life you consume over another form of life you have decided not to consume. the life that is taken for our clothing can be treated in the same way.
During my research i also found that “natural” plant-based fabrics like cotton are not any better..the agriculture around these mainstream fabrics is atrocious. from the toxic pesticides of the growing process to the huge amounts of water it consumes, to the human concerns of workers being exposed to chemicals and toxins not to mention the bleaching and dying process. its fucked. and the so-called “organic” cotton is just as fucked because there is no regulatory institution that certifies that it is truly organic. usually its the same cotton sold at a higher price by cotton growers looking to make an extra buck on the “green” fad. so ya, nope. basically all big business plant-based fabrics are fucked up.
here is a little review of the impact of modern fabrics
Exhibit A:
so we are left with the only two sustainable fabrics im aware of, hemp and bamboo, which are cool. and expensive. and right now the offerings are limited and we would have to compromise our aesthetic so much that our company would not be what we want it to be nor would it generate the necessary enthusiasm to become profitable. it is not outerwear. it wont keep you warm really. and it is not sexy at all. besides our ethics around human rights and the environment, there is our artistic ethics to consider. our brand and it’s message about sex and love and spirituality are extremely important. there is an aesthetic that goes along with this. and that cant be sacrificed. so while we may do some t-shirts out of bamboo at some point, neither of these options is really viable for RITUAL at the moment.
recycled leather can work for one of a kind items, but this is not scalable. we want our company to be able to grow and that is impossible using recycled leather.
the whole thing is a huge catch 22 up the ass because no matter what we will be screwing somebody somewhere. whether the environmental considerations of the manufacturing process or the humanitarian considerations of workers in garment factories around the world… there really is no way around it given the manufacturing industry as it stands today.
my brother-in-law works for a sustainable farm that raises cattle and sheep and is looking for a vegetable dye tannery and sales opportunities for the leather that comes from it. they sell organic meat at their own stores. that would be awesome. i would love to use vegetable tanned leather. if that goes through i am all in! but the time or energy to develop it is beyond our current scope.
i also have huge ideas for a tree sap based rubberized hemp canvas which would act as leather and be totally sustainable. i have high hopes for this tree rubber as leather idea. but again, the time and energy to develop this and make it cool enough is beyond our current scope as well.
Exhibit B:
also, here is someone growing fabric from a bacterial culture similar to kombucha which is soooo cool!!!!
Exhibit C:
its so awesome! but we dont have the resources to develop this either. i wish i could hire a team of scientists to make this a working reality. but alas, we are but an embryo of a company and not even close to being able to do that.
and so, our only hope is to compromise as little as possible until we are powerful enough to reinvent the industry itself. with enough money and power we could do it too. we could divert huge resources towards inventing new sustainable fabrics that are grown in vats out of bacteria…we could do our own research, source our own materials, hire our own workers and invent a working environment that works on all levels for everyone.
once our company gets off the ground.
but to get it off the ground we have to choose our battles and the battle we are choosing is focused on the apathy and inhibitions of our culture. By seducing our followers to love freely and fully, embracing and cherishing their flaws and finding spirituality in their sexuality through our fetish and fantasy inspired high fashion we will be doing as much good as anyone can expect to do on this troubled world. at least to start. its a good start. there is time to add integrity to the manufacturing process. and someday there may even be resources to evolve the manufacturing industry itself through ecologically inspired science and research. but for now we must go down this path with what we have in front of us. and that path consists of extremely tight fitting leather corsets, harnesses and jackets that pull and push in all the right places.
so, please excuse the length of this rant I just have a strong opinion about this and wanted to share it with you fully. it feels good to get all these thoughts into writing. in fact i may turn this into my latest blog post.
and i would love to continue this dialogue with you further if you have any ideas on how we could pursue a more ethical path with our manufacturing.
-c
