Most cork leathers are backed with a fabric to improve its structural integrity when created as sheets or rolls. In hot climates like Portugal cork is more sustainable over other trees because it's bark does not burn easily. It is waterproof, stain resistant, interestingly harvested cork absorbs more Carbon Dioxide than unharvested cork. So onto natural Vegan leathers, Cork of course is a natural vegan leather, which when created with other products are sustainable, can be recycled, are environmentally friendly and possess many benefits in the make up of belts, hand bags, wallets etc. However we are working with the manufacturers to develop products that are helping in some way to reduce our carbon footprint, use recyclable materials and are an alternative to natural leather. They have positive characteristics, can be made in various colours and thicknesses, they can be breathable, waterproof, stitchable, capable of being embossed, laminated to other substrates, however they are not without their failings, as no vegan man made leather is 100% bio -degradable. Vegan leathers man made are eco friendly, they do minimise waste.

Nevertheless there are worthy considerations to look at planet earth friendly products, or at least products that do not add to the damage plastics and animal skins are having on our environment. More than a billion animals are slaughtered every year for their skins and other things, the processing of leather has a detrimental affect on the environment although changes are being and are made to reduce this by using vegetable dyes. Vegan natural leather has become more prevalent in many facets of industry using raw materials like cork, fruit waste, coffee beans, pineapple leaves and more innovative developments are ongoing. There are products now being made which use the waste leather and recycle it into usable leather and many car manufacturers, airlines, and trains use this type of dual reprocessed leather to help the environment - so although not Vegan leather - these products are helping in some way, however it must be stressed they are not Vegan as they still use animal skinned leather, although reconstituted. Vegan leather can also be used from recycled plastics where waste plastics are combined with other man made raw materials to make leather.

Other Vegan man made leathers are made from recycled textile polymer composites. Vegan man made leather, is often manufactured from Polyurethane based material, sometimes PVC (Poly Vinyl Chloride) but PVC has other harmful substances and cannot be truly an eco friendly material. Man made Vegan leather is also referred to as faux leather. There are two specific sectors of what is referred to as VEGAN leather and should be broken down into natural and man made. There is however a lack of general understanding of what is really Vegan leather as many people seem to think it is vegetable based, this is far from the truth. Devanét® has been developing a range of Vegan leather products in cooperation with a number of innovative manufacturers of this environmentally friendly product.

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