Sometimes I feel conflicted about leather.

Leather production is a product of animal cruelty. It's literally the processed skin of an animal which was killed prematurely. The people who produce it are the same shitbags behind the meat and dairy industry. Overall it's just bad, do not want.

But the alternatives to leather are worse for the environment. The most common leather substitute is a plastic leather which ultimately comes from the oil industry. It's not durable like leather is so it ends up in a landfill far too soon. Other alternatives like cactus, cork, & mushroom leather are cool, but they still don't last long, essentially making it fast fashion. And there's an argument to be made that consuming leather does little to worsen animal suffering, as we slaughter more cows than we actually process the skin of. This argument is even stronger in the case of secondhand leather.

But part of the point of clothing is communication, to show who you are through your choices. Wearing the skin of an animal who was murdered communicates values which I do not have. I don't condone the violence. It's not who I am. But to go off of that is to put my own wants above the actual victims of my choices.

All this craziness makes me want to just wear canvass instead. It's also nice and durable and firm, without all this fraught symbolism.