Leather - Not just bad for the cows?

I admit, I am not one that has given a lot of thought to the use of leather, even though I know that is quite upsetting to some people (not to mention PETA). When I started thinking about a way to redesign a product that could be more sustainable, I wanted to pick something that I would actually want to use and was applicable in my life. I train mixed martial arts (a form of fighting called mma) 6 days a week, and my thoughts immediately jumped to all the equipment I use for my sport. Everything from the heavy bags, Thai pads and focus mitts to the bxing and mma gloves that I wear are made with leather as the outer material. I decided to find out how bad leather is as a material (and not just from the cow's perspective...) Granted, most of the equipment has a pretty long life cycle considering how often it is used, but what if there was a way to shift the industry away from using leather?

Turns out, leather is pretty unsustainable for a few reasons. The process of turning animal hide into leather is really energy intensive, comparable to the gross consumption of energy required for aluminum, steel, paper, cement and petroleum-manufacturing. Also, the animal hide is treated with chromium and any waste containing this has been deemed hazardous by the EPA. There is some concern that some of the other chemicals used in the process also present some health and environmental risks but these haven't been substantiated enough to be declared as fact yet. Finally, although animal skin would naturally be biodegradable, the fiber structure is altered when it is turned into leather, making it not possible to dispose of any leather product involved in my sport using a sustainable method.

Currently there are a few viable substitutes for leather, some of which even have a similar cost to produce. I searched for a long time to see what companies are using these alternatives for, but so far they seem to be used primarily only for items such as shoes, clothing, etc. I am going to research it a little further and who knows, maybe we can all someday be using more sustainable gear in our quest for the amazing knock out! :)