Animals’ skins could also be those of animals sacrificed for Bakri Id. It is customary for the skins of all sacrificed animals: goats, sheep, calves, etc. to be donated to madrassas, which sell them to leather traders to generate funds for running their institutions.
Few are aware that Indian children are made to work illegally in tanneries and leather goods workshops. This flies in the face of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights.
It is ironical that import of leathers derived from the cow family are allowed as finished goods or for assembly here like handbags, footwear, upholstery for vehicles and furniture, because such use is contrary to the beliefs of those who worship cows.
Leather
Leather: Tanned animal hide or rawhide.
Hide or Rawhide: Animal skin, not tanned.
Pelt: Entire hide of an animal as it is, with or without the fur/hair/wool on.
Skin: Hide without, removed or not having, fur/hair/wool.
Fur: Hide of an animal having short, fine and soft hair.
Wool: Fibre obtained from the hair of sheep, goat and other animal pelts.
Leather can be broadly grouped under three main categories as follows:
• Finished leather
• Footwear (manufactured into shoes, slippers and sandals, and footwear components like uppers and soles)
• Leather garments (readymade garments and leather goods)
Commercially available Leather is always from Animals that are Killed
It is sad that India’s is the world’s 2nd largest exporter of leather garments, 3rd largest exporter of saddlery and harness and 4th largest exporter of leather goods. During 2024-25 India exported $4.4 bn worth of leather goods and non-leather footwear.
People who use leather are well aware that it is the skin of animals, but they do not ask themselves if the animal died a natural death or was slaughtered. This includes the Kora Kendra so-called ahinsak leather goods which claim to have been made from only non-slaughtered animals (yes, non-slaughtered, but killed in some other way). The fact is that their leather is obtained from animals killed in research laboratories, put to sleep by veterinarians, fatal road accident cases or starved to death as in the case of male dairy calves.
Even knowing this, people tend to consider leather as a by-product of the killing, thus absolving themselves of the blame for the act of killing. According to them, it is the persons who buy the meat that are responsible for the killing, not the wearers of the skin. The skin is just thrown away, they claim, to be picked up by the leather manufacturer, who thereby does a great service by not “wasting” any part of the animal, which is dead “anyway”. They again are unaware, or more likely choose to disregard the fact, that the skin is not just “picked up”, it is bought against cash as much as the meat is. When cattle is sold to the butcher the value of leather is considered, when sheep is sold the fleece is paid for, and so on. Moreover, no leather-goods’ manufacturer waits for raw materials (animal skins) because purchases that are a result of slaughter are constantly made and there is no break in production.
Skin derived from animals slaughtered in abattoirs or slaughter-houses is obviously known, but few know that the animals’ skins could even be those of animals sacrificed for Bakri Idd. It is customary for the skins of all sacrificed animals like goats, sheep, calves, etc. to be donated to madrassas which sell them to leather traders in order to generate money for running their institutions. It has been estimated that 3 crore sheep and goats are sacrificed across India so a very big percentage of leather is from animals thus slaughtered. (Interestingly, just before Bakri Idd 2019, certain prominent Muslim scholars and leaders of some Jamaats appealed to the community to destroy the skins of sacrificed animals and not give them to the madrassas. It was in order to protest against the deliberate move by leather traders to artificially suppress the price of hide a fortnight before the festival. Since 2014 every year the price paid to the madrassas for the skins had been consistently brought down having by then fallen to 10% of the true value.)
It is unfortunate that the strictest advocates of vegetarianism in the world’s history have seen nothing worthy of comment, criticism, or condemnation in the use of leather. The Government of India is no different because as part of the Independence Day 2008 gift package the Government Okayed Rs 912 crores for development of leather industry infrastructure in the 11th Plan. Furthermore, the Central Leather Research Institute and Shivaji University, Kolhapur have undertaken a scheme worth Rs 2 crores to revive the Kolhapur leather chappal industry. Kolhapuri chappals are hand-crafted using hides of cattle (bulls, cows) and goats, and are typically in natural tan or dyed deep brown or black-maroon colours. The cords used to stitch the chappals are also made of leather and no nails are utilised in the footwear. However, by 2016 this cottage industry that had been worth around Rs 9 crore had declined by more than a third. People imagined it was due to the previous year’s ban on slaughter of bulls in Maharashtra, but the artisans themselves said this was not even one of the reasons. They put it down to the next generation not wanting to make chappals and finding more lucrative work, added to which local tanneries had closed and 85% of the leather was from Chennai, and neighbouring Karnataka that manufactured chappals was far ahead of them. Eventually in 2019 the Kolhapuri chappal was granted the GI (Geographical Indicator) tag thus placing it on the global map. Artisans of Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara and Solapur districts of Maharashtra and Dharwad, Belgaum, Bagalkot and Bijapur of Karnataka are the only ones who have been granted rights to use the Kolhapuri name.
However, in 2000 thanks to the efforts of animal activists, leather originating in India was struck off the import list of three major retailers, Gap Inc, Banana Republic and Old Navy of the US because they were informed of the cruelty involved to the animals in the process.
By 2006 the major leather domestic footwear manufacturers were Bata, CSC, Aero, Liberty, Mesco, Wasan and Phoenix. (Incidentally, Bata is a Czechoslovakian brand which began manufacturing footwear in the 1930s at Batanagar near Kolkata – and with a canteen for vegetarian workers! Bataganj is near Patna. They have over 1000 stores in 500 cities that sell around 45 million pairs of footwear annually.) Corporate houses like Hindustan Lever, L&T, Ponds, Tata Exports, etc. were also marketing and exporting of leather products. In 2010 the top formal shoe brands in India were Red Tape, Florsheim, Gabor, Salamander, Clarks and St Michael’s, and sport shoe brands Reebok, Nike and Adidas.
Animal activists have begun moving in the right direction by bringing down leather consumption considerably. During 2010 and 2011 they were responsible for convincing the government to ban the use of leather shoes for school children and even Jawans. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) also decided in 2011 to phase out the use of leather footwear and belts.
Click here to read advisory issued in 2014 by the Central Board of Secondary Education against the use of leather. BWC is pleased that the implementation although slow is happening.
Kanpur (Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai to a much lesser extent) is known for leather processing or tanning, whereas Agra is known for formal shoes and therefore called the “footwear capital of India”. 65% of domestic demand and 28% of exports were from Agra in 2025. The 45 tonnes of footwear waste generated daily is collected by the Agra Nagar Nigam (Agra Municipal Corporation) from leather shoe makers for recycling.
More and more good quality, non-leather, alternatives are being used in the making of footwear for both men and women, but an important caution regarding “man-made materials” needs to be kept in mind: Bicast/Bi-cast/Bycast leather /Pleather/PU leather is “man-made” and it consists of a thick layer of polyurethane applied to low-grade or bonded/reconstituted leather (90% to 100% leather scrap fibres bonded together with latex binders) developed by Bayer and widely used by automotive, electrical and electronics, construction, sports and leisure industries. In Foot-Works2008 at Chennai, BMS (Bayer Material Science) offered tailor-made solutions to the footwear industry by introducing their high-tech products like thermo-plastic & thermoset poly-urethanes, coatings and adhesives. Most of the Bicast leather that has been created by others utilises inferior materials and so it turns out stiff and delamintes resulting in bubbles and cracking. This is important to remember when choosing “man-made” footwear. In short, if the material is very stiff, bubbles are visible, or looks like it will crack, it is leather.
Bio-fabrication is a process that produces a material that has the same flexibility, smooth texture and elasticity of leather through a tissue engineering technique but it is not “completely animal-free” as claimed by the inventors of Modern Meadow, a Brooklyn-based start up. The lab grows leather in two weeks from skin cells that produce collagen. It is falsely claimed that “no animals are harmed” because via a biopsy on a living animal, skin cells are taken from which leather is grown in the lab. Leather/hide of cows, crocodiles and ostriches has been thus produced. The February 2023 issue of the National Geographic carried an article entitled “These Boots Were Made of What?” in which an American company was selling boots claiming to be made from Indian elephant leather. It is possible it was bio-fabricated leather or else embossed calfskin. Ecotune is another bio-based leather considered an alternative to both animal hide and petroleum-based plastics. It is designed to be fully biodegradable and claims to be crafted from plant-based polymers developed at a molecular level.
Blending Leathers or Material Hybrids became fashionable in 2026. Leather on garments appeared to gradually fade into a wool texture or shiny leather fade into denim texture in seamless gradients. What looked like leather merged with wool, could actually be ultra-fine leather.
Chappals and slippers can be deceptive in their non-leather content. It is usually easy to make out if the sole is made of leather and to a fairly good extent a person can also distinguish on close inspection whether the upper and inner sole lining is made of leather or not. But, what is difficult to know is the material used in between the outer sole and inner sole which is not visible. This very often is a regenerated leather board or salpa which looks similar to and is stiff like cardboard but is actually machine pressed leather fining. Polypropylene resin coated cellulose boards sold under brand names of Texon and Bontex are some times used in place of leather boards by shoemakers. As it is impractical to cut open chappals to check if they contain leather boards, one has to rely on the word of the shopkeeper. However, if the sole is of a moulded variety (usually with heels) it would not necessitate the use of a stiff material in between the inner and outer sole. Jute/Osho slippers are made entirely of jute or of jute-cum-rubber are usually available at jute products exhibitions, outside the Osho Ashram (Pune), and at Khadi outlets like the Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan, Mumbai. They are very comfortable to wear but cannot be worn in wet conditions. (When in 2022 Prime Minister Narendra Modi was informed that the workers at Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi worked barefoot because it was forbidden to wear leather or rubber footwear in the temple premises, he sent 100 pairs of jute footwear for them.) Rubber or plastic slippers, like the humble “Hawaii” chappal is still a very good thing to wear, especially in wet conditions. It may not be considered suitable for formal occasions, but if worn clean and carried properly, should be worn with as much pride as leather footwear users possess for the reasons discussed above. In celebration of International Earth Day 2011, “Soles with Souls” footwear was launched in Delhi – made by recycling old tyres, JK Tyre and the Footwear Design and Development Institute created the eco-friendly footwear. Rexene/Rexine/Leather-cloth/Vinyl/PVC/Poly-Vinyl-Chloride (“synthetic” leather), footwear is commonly available at the regular shoe shops. (However, Bis(2-ethylthexyl)phalate/DEHP used as a softener in PVC plastic is considered a reproductive carcinogen for footwear although it is mainly used for medical devices.) Special care needs to be taken to find out if they are totally free from leather. (Vinyl and Linoleum flooring do not contain any animal substances. In fact, Linoleum is a generic term for a floor covering made from solidified linseed oil in combination with wood flour/cork dust over burlap/canvas backing.) Naoran is a chemical-free leather alternative derived from wood pulp and recycled polyester and is soft, flexible and water-resistant.
Leather of different animals and their typical uses
Overall leather for world consumption comes from a variety of animals such as cattle (buffalo included) and sheep being the most common; also from goats, hogs/boars, alligators, crocodiles, ostriches, emus, kangaroos and yaks. Bison leather which has a waxy feel, is used for jackets and baseball gloves; deer and elk skins for tent-coverings, blankets, belts, work gloves and shoes; deer and lamb skins for some expensive apparels; ostrich leather for upholstery, automotive products, footwear, accessories and clothing; emu hide is used by the fashion industry to make jackets, coats, handbags, belts, and wallets, for book-binding and as lining for boots and luggage; kangaroo skin for bullwhips and some motorcycles (the Predator PowerSwerve football boots by Adidas have kangaroo skin uppers so the skin was specially replaced by a lightweight microfibre for the internationally famous footballer David Beckham who heeded objections from UK’s animal rights activists); pig skin for apparel, accessories and seats of saddles; snake and crocodile/alligator skins for exotic items. Exotic leathers/skins/hides such as expensive shark, ostrich, and pigs’ skins are obtained by specially breeding these creatures for slaughter. Fish skin (soaked in chemicals for 40 days in order to get rid of scales and oil prior to tanning) especially leather processed from salmon, shark, catfish, and tuna, is used as a substitute for snake and lizard skins. “Rain forest leather” is actually leather from cows that were grazed on once-dense jungle in South American countries.
Exotic leathers are usually from rare animal species (even those protected by CITES) of from animals and animal-parts that are rarely processed into leather like chicken legs, bull testicles and stomachs of ruminants. Below is a list of most exotic leathers (hides, skins and furs included) that are available worldwide:
Alligator
Alpaca fur
Antelope
Armadillo
Bird
Bull testicles
Caiman
Camel
Carpincho
Cat fur
Chicken legs
Crocodile
Dog
Donkey
Elephant
Fish (Eel, Shark, Salmon, Moray-eel, Stingray, etc.)
Frog
Giraffe
Hippo
Horse hide
Kangaroo
Llama fur
Lizard
Ostrich
Pangolin
Peccary
Rumen
Seal skin
Snake skin
Turtle skin
Walrus
Yak
Zebra hide
India’s 20th Livestock Census released in 2019 stated that there was a sharp decline in the country’s donkey population. Between 2007 and 2012 the population fell by 23%; and from 2012 to 2019 it further dropped by 61.23%; thus leaving just 1,20,000 donkeys in India. A big and fast fall in donkey populations is occurring worldwide and is because of China’s demand for donkey skins from which they produce medicinal gelatine called Ejiao.
A number of famous rock groups and celebrities wear leather clothing. Some readymade clothes like jeans come with leather patches, e.g. Levi Strauss, Pepe Jeans, Numero Uno, Lee Jeans, and Skykar Jeans. Jeans with non-leather patches are also available, e.g. Cotton King and some from Mexx. Ostrich leather with its characteristic “goose-bump” (large follicles from which the feathers grew) is used by major fashion houses such as Hermès, Parda, Gucci and Louis Vuitton who popularised trimming of Vachetta leather on luggage. Louis Vuitton also markets products of Taiga leather derived from animals that live in the sub-artic, evergreen coniferous forests. Leather cords/strings/ropes, usually in brown, olive green or black are some times used in place of metal chains for pendants and bracelets. In Thailand leather of sting ray (marine creature) is commonly used in wallets and belts. Ironically, India has not stopped the sale of imported crocodile skin products, e.g. an office bag made of alligator skin from the Ermenegildo Zegna’s collection sells for over Rupees seven lakhs. Some products of companies like Da Milano and Fiorelli look like reptile skin and could be labelled as “croc leather” but are animal leather, made to look like, but not actually crocodile skin.
Leather, Hide and Skin are used for apparel, garments, jackets, skirts, saree blouses, belts, gloves, footwear, handbags, wallets, purses, watch and other straps, jewellery, covers (for mobile phones, spectacles, menus, passports, cheque books, visiting and credit cards), hotel room folders, coasters, pen-stands, dustbins, linings, trimmings (stitched on fabrics and sarees in the form of appliqué, sequins and embellishments), accessories, upholstery, tapestry, wall-hangings, table-tops, picture frames, luggage (trunks, suitcases, vanity cases, business/executive-cases, briefcases, computer bags, laptop sleeves, school satchels, travelling bags) book-binding, book and diary covers, sports, musical instruments, decorations, artefacts, curios, knickknacks, toys, puppets, ornamental, fancy and utility items. Most of it is from slaughtered cows and bulls although 20% of the world’s goat skin is from India. About eighteen square feet (roughly only a quarter of a saree) of leather is obtained from an average sized cow or bull in India. For example, a leather jacket would be made from approximately ten square feet (55% hide of a single cow or bull and if also lined with leather, the skin of two medium-sized goats); and a leather briefcase from five and a half square feet representing 30% hide of a single cow or bull together with the entire skin of approximately three small goats used for the inside lining and the compartments.
Leather upholstery (sofa and chair covers, also seats in vehicles) create heavy demands for the skin of large animals since large single pieces of leather are called for which can not be obtained from smaller animals. On an average as little as eighteen square feet of leather obtained is in two pieces and since the animal’s hide is, naturally, shaped like the animal’s body to a large extent, a considerable quantity of the hide cannot be utilised for upholstery, the manufacture of which therefore entails the use of hide from many more animals. And as explained earlier, cow hide is not a by-product of the meat industry.
Camel hide is not only commonly used in Rajasthan for slippers/mojadis but entire pieces of furniture, bags, doors and artefacts like lampshades, vases and bowls are covered with camel leather, some of which is Cordwain/Cordovan work (decorating leather for walls by embossing/painting in gold and other colours) for which the “shell” sections of hides are utilised.
Interestingly, the youngsters of the marginalised communities that made a living by hand-stitching leather mojadis in Rajasthan have switched to weaving carpets and rugs. Wool is less hinsak than leather, but hinsak nevertheless.
Local styles of Punjabi jutti are similar to mojadi/khussa usually made of goat leather. Unfortunately NABARD (National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development) funds artisans to make Muktsar jutti or touri which are handmade using “hard, pure leather” with extensive embroidery.
Golf shoes are made from multi-seasonal yak leather combined with non-leather materials like light weight EVA or PEVA (poly ethylene vinyl acetate) for soles.
Balls used for sports like cricket, hockey, football and volleyball are made of leather, although some volleyballs are made from non-animal materials. Cricket balls (red, pink and white) mainly manufactured in Meerut and Sialkot are made of cow/bull hide (buffalo leather was tried but found unsuitable). It is interesting that non-leather cricket balls have a higher sale than those made from leather, mainly because they are cheaper and slower in wearing out as compared to the leather ones. They may not be perfect performance-wise, but they suffice for amateur level at which most cricket matches are played.
The good news is that in response to Beauty Without Cruelty’s campaign, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India via a Notification declared that after 1 August 2016 silver leaf or chandi-ka-varkh “shall not be manufactured using any material of animal origin at any stage”. For decades BWC investigated, created a public awareness, and approached the Government of India to declare that Varkh must be machine-made, without using animal skin. Sheep/goat epidermises/jhilli or ox-gut/goldbeater’s skin was used in the production of edible metal foil called chandi-ka-varkh/silver leaf and also gold leaf. The demand in India was for 2.5 crores of booklets per year which equaled 37.5 crores of animals. 12,500 animal epidermises of sheep/goat were used for producing 1 kg of varkh. Similarly a pack of 1,000 pieces of silver/goldbeater’s skin required the gut of about 400 oxen. Varkh is used as decoration on mithai, paan, supari, chyavanprash, mukhwaas, fruit, in syrups, Ayurvedic formulations, liquors, sweets, and ironically to decorate idols of Jain Tirthankars.
Drum, tabla, dukra, duggi, dholak, pakhavaj, mardal, khol, mridangam, and other percussion instruments use the skin of various animals, e.g., iguana, buffalo, goat, deer, cat, sheep, elks, cattle, etc. Ghumot, an earthenware pot covered with the skin of the monitor lizard is used as a drum in Goa. However, most modern foreign percussion instruments are made with non-animal “skin”. Expensive cat skin is used to cover the sound box of a musical instrument called shamisen (it resembles a violin played with a bow) used in Japan. Cat skin has to be well pounded, stretched, dried and while processing stretched without tearing so that it is of uniform thickness to produce a good melodious sound. Hide glue is used for repairing musical instruments such as those of the violin family.
Certain puppets contain leather similar to that used in gloves and toys. Some leather puppets are 3 to 5 feet huge, made of deer, goat and buffalo hide and utilised for shadow theatre shows called Tolu Bommalatam in Andhra Pradesh. The Government of India has granted the Andhra Pradesh Leather Puppetry and Leather Toys of Indore the Geographical Indication or GI tag. The latter consist of rice-straw stuffed leather animal toys and decorative items like replicas of bears, panthers, camels, cheetahs, crocodiles, deer, elephants, lions, tigers and horses, which are marketed from the Mrignayani showrooms but mainly exported.
Other leathers: Around 1975 an Animal By-products Utilisation Centre was started by the Municipal Corporation at Chennai for processing and manufacturing exportable items from stray dogs’ skins followed by skins of cats, porcine and rats. The market for dog leather is not good if the purchasers are told that the leather is from a dog, it was therefore passed off as just leather. Around 1980, following considerable anti-publicity generated by BWC widely, the project was abandoned. However, leather made from rat skin is used to manufacture fine leather goods in Tamil Nadu.
The National Research Centre on Mithun at Jharnapani, Nagaland, under Indian Council of Agricultural Research, has undertaken a “Study of growth performance and leather quality in mithun (Bos frontalis) and its comparison with local cattle (Bos indicus) fed on tree leaves based ration”. Mithun is the domesticated gaur.
The Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) try their best to promote the use of leather. In 1998 they organised a fashion show in which leather skirts, blouses, shirts, vests, blazers, trousers, Bermudas, shawls, scarves, bikinis, etc. were displayed. This in spite of the All India Survey of Raw Hides made by the CLRI which had stated way back in 1982 that the population of cattle in relation to human population was decreasing fast having come down from 44% to 27% from 1951 to 1982.
Some Leather varieties: Aniline and Ecru (or semi-aniline) leather is not coloured, but treated with aniline dye to produce a delicate, soft, supple “naked” leather; Pleather is a synthetic/man-made leather made from plastic and leather as the name denotes as is Bicast leather which consists of a thick layer of polyurethane applied to a substrate of low-grade or bonded/reconstituted leather developed by Bayer and used in many segments like the footwear industries, whereas Bonded/Reconstituted leather is 90% to 100% leather scrap fibres bonded together with latex binders to create a “true” leather look; Box calf is calf skin treated with chromium salts and having square markings on the grain; Bridle leather refers to the way cow-hide is tanned and is from a cow less than 3 years old; Cabretta leather is hair-sheep skins much used in footwear and gloves for sports like golf; Caiman is inferior quality crocodile skin; California Banknotes are hides; Camel hide/skin/leather is considered five times stronger than bovine hide/leather, is tanned as “fur on” and “fur off”, is commonly used in Rajasthan for slippers, is available as matte (flat and dull) finish in a variety of colours or in wet-blue, crust or finished leather made into hats, boots and fashion garments in Australia; Carding leather is a special type of side leather; Chamois leather is skin of a small mountain antelope or young sheep/goat/kid/pig (could also be of dog skin), used for making expensive gloves and cycling shorts, and used for cleaning, rubbing and polishing items made of brass, silverware, jewellery, fine instruments such as cameras, painted surfaces such as that of vehicles, spectacles, and to filter aviation petrol (the usually yellow coloured soft cotton cloth, commonly available for cleaning cars is the non-leather alternative); Corinthian is a brand name given by Chrysler for the leather used in their luxury cars; Clemence leather is the hide of a young bull; Croupon/Crupp leather is a semicircular portion of leather taken from the butt of tanned horse or some other animal’s hide; Crust leather is tanned and dried out, not finished; Cuir bouilli/Boiled leather is thick and hard due to being boiled, was used for armour but now to bind books; Deer skin is the toughest of leathers; Italian leather is high quality leather (animal hides can be from any part of the world, but if tanned in Italy get distinguished as Italian leather) used for a multitude of products ranging from shoes to car upholstery (it is used in some cars like the Mitsubishi Outlander made in India); Premium leather is expensive, high quality, genuine animal skin – usually cow hide (advertised for car upholstery by Renault); Jewel Calf leather is calfskin which is derived by killing a calf that is few days to a few weeks old; Morocco leather is sheep skin dyed red and has a bird’s eye pattern grain; Nubuck is cattle hide with velvet-like surface made from the outer (grain) side of the hide rather than the underside – it is lightly sanded to create a fine, velvety nap and since it consists of the strongest layer of the hide, it is much more durable and thicker than traditional suede (Birkibuc made from acrylic and polyamide felt fibres replicate Nubuck leather); Napa/Nappa is known for its softness, is chrome tanned and used for high quality goods; Patent leather is very shiny/glossy, smooth, and some times coated with plastic (acrylic and polyamide felt fibres of Birko-Flor replicates patent leather); Raw-hide is obtained by scraping the skin thin, soaking in lime and stretching while it dries; Safari Croc Calf leather is calfskin embossed to look like crocodile skin (or other reptile skins); Shagreen/Stingray skin is rough leather, usually coloured green and commonly confused with Shark skin; Slink is the soft hide of an unborn-calf/fetus used for gloves; Suede is leather with a dense, soft and fuzzy surface usually produced by rubbing the flesh side and looks similar to velvet and felt. Suede Split is the top grain has been separated or split away. The soft middle or bottom layers are then sanded to raise the fibers, giving it a fuzzy surface on both sides. (NuSuede, Microsuede, Alcantara and Ultrasuede are man-made materials similar to suede); Togo leather is the hide of an adult bull; Vachetta is typically used as a trim on handbags and luggage; Wet-blue leather (full grain/split) of cow, buffalo, sheep, goat and camel hides, sold wet and blue – the blue colour is derived from the chromium used for tanning.
Leather finishes: Full-Grain/Top-Grain are hides that have not been sanded, buffed or snuffed/corrected, only hair from the epidermis removed and available in two finish types Aniline and Semi-Aniline/Ecru; Corrected-Grain is altered leather that has been sanded, buffed or snuffed/corrected, also available in two finish types Semi-Aniline and Pigmented; Fat Wrinkle is leather having wrinkles – the animal killed for this leather was fat; Split leather is created from the fibrous part of the hide left once the top-grain of the raw hide has been separated from the hide which is then used to create Suede, and if desired it can be further processed to give a full-grain appearance the trade name of which is Latigo. Chrome is a process relating to the use of chromium salts used for tanning leathers like Napa/Nappa known for its softness and is found in luxury cars like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi. Bark (like bark from the flame-of-the forest/palash tree) or vegetable tanned (instead of chromium tanned) leather is in no way vegetarian because the leather itself is that of a (slaughtered) animal. East India Leather or E I Leather is an Indian vegetable-tanned leather produced by the tanneries in Tiruchi and Dindigul in Tamil Nadu and has been granted the Geographical Indication or GI tag by the government. Shantiniketan leather goods also have this tag.
Leather alternatives: Research is on-going to create leather using leaves like those of kombucha tea and teak, and plants such as soy, fruits, as well as from coffee grounds. Many pseudo-leather materials are produced from petrochemicals have been developed, e.g. Vegan Microfiber which is stronger than animal leather. Some others are artificial leather, Birko-Flor and Birkibuc from Birkenstock (acrylic and polyamide felt fibres which replicate patent and nubuck leathers); Ban-o-Fi Leather (banana fibres and waste); Cork Leather (bark of cork oak trees); Desserto/Nopal Leather (cactus developed for the luxury segment); Durabuck (by Nike used for athletic and hiking shoes, same as Chlorenol); FineWoven (textile twill made from 68% recycled content, having a soft, suede like feel, used to replace leather by Apple with the aim of making carbon neutral watches and other items); Gore-Tex (water-proof breathable fabric manufactured from PTFE/polythetrafluoroethylene considered the best material for all-weather footwear); Hydrolite and Hydrotuff (by Staftex, nylon/polyester base fabrics coated with PU/Poly-Urethane and PVC/Poly-Vinyl-Chloride and therefore water-proof, used for heavy duty bags, folding chairs, awnings, safety gear); Kydex (by Kleerdex are tough and durable acrylic/PMMA+PVC/Poly-Vinyl-Chloride thermoplastic sheets which can be used as protective wall covering); Oskin (by Ohoskin made from dried and micronized orange peels mixed with plant-based bio-resins to create a durable material that can be coloured, embossed and customised to look like animal leather); Rexene/Rexine/Leather-cloth/Vinyl/PVC/Poly-Vinyl-Chloride supported cloth (“synthetic leather” manufactured by companies such as Bhor Industries and used in ladies’ chappals, footwear, handbags, wallets, etc.); Lorica (gloss-faced Japanese microfibres, dyed and softened in Italy); NuSuede (man-made material similar to suede); Malai (man-made material from coconut produced and sold in India since 2018, being further researched with Cochin University of Science and Technology and IIT Hyderabad); Mulbtex (used by the apparel industry, it is made from the leaves of mulberry trees and mixed with silicone which is essentially made from sand. Although the leather in itself is vegan, being a by-product of the silk industry it’s use becomes questionable); Muskin (by Italian Grado Zero Space, made from mushroom spores, tanned without toxic chemicals, looks like hide, is ultra absorbent, breathable, soft & malleable. Rivals suede, especially since it looks natural and stays that way.) Mylo (a new mushroom leather); Piñatex is made from cellulose fibres of pineapple leaves (it takes 400 leaves to produce just 1 square metre) is utilised for high-end branded vegan sneakers and jackets. Poromeric (these imitation leathers are a group of “breathable” leather substitutes made from plastic coating, usually a poly-urethane on a fibrous base such as polyester, e.g. Corfam by DuPont and Clarino by Kuraray Co. of Japan); Vegan Ecru Leather is from olive waste; Vegea is made from wine industry leftovers like the stalks, skins and pips of grapes; and Vegetan (shop-owned brand name for a particular grade of microfibre). Newly developed Artificial Leather Photo Paper is made on a paper-cum-fabric base and comes in different textures, surface designs and colours. Actual Bullet-proof Jackets are not made of leather, but “bullet-proof styled jackets” can be of leather. Till the 1970s the bullet-proof jackets were made with ballistic nylon material. In 1965 a liquid polymer compound which can be spun into fibre and woven into cloth called poly-parphenyleneterephthalamide was invented under the brand name of Kevlar; Spectra was developed as its competitor in 1989. The latest alternative to leather called Fleather was developed by Phool.co an Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur backed start-up and was selected by the UN for its Sustainable Development Goals initiative in 2018 because the leather is made from floral waste. Ultrasuede is a premium synthetic microfiber fabric noted for being soft, breathable, and highly resistant to shrinking, stretching, or fading. Alcantara is a luxury, trademarked synthetic material made from a blend of polyester and polyurethane that is widely used in high-end automotive interiors, fashion, and tech accessories for its suede-like feel and extreme durability. Microsuede is a synthetic fabric made of polyester that is tightly woven to mimic the nap and texture of real suede that is highly resistant to stains and moisture, making it much easier to clean.
In May 2023 the Central Leather Research Institute announced that they had developed vegan leather made from mangos mixed with natural polymers and baked. BWC seriously wondered why CLRI would want to come out with a vegan substitute to animal leather and tout the use of less water… Moreover, it would be interesting to know which natural polymers are utilised – examples of naturally occurring polymers are silk, wool, DNA, cellulose and proteins – and would this mango based leather be truly vegan as claimed?
Leather is not ahinsak: Up until the time of Mahatma Gandhi, the concept of ahinsak leather was absent. He was the first one to discriminate between types of leather depending upon the circumstances of their origin. Indeed, he also introduced the idea of ahinsak honey on the same lines. Both these so-called ahinsak products are characterised by the absence of the wilful and conscious intent of predation when obtaining the substances. Therefore, people of Gandhian persuasion or those who are aware of the actual source of leather strive to buy only so-called ahinsak leather from stores like the Khadi Bhandar. This option is chosen on the basis of the claims of the manufacturers (Kora Kendra) and marketers of ahinsak leather, that such leather is obtained only from non-slaughtered animals, implying that the animals have died a natural death. While the intentions and sincerity of such consumers are truly laudable, facts reveal that their faith in the manufacturers’ claims is being repaid by deceit.
It is quite obvious that it is a perversion of truth to call the death of the ahinsak-leather animals “natural”. Beauty Without Cruelty’s investigations prove that a very common source of the hide for ahinsak footwear is dairies! This fact incriminates both the leather and the dairy industries. Aren’t dairies supposed to be places where the only activity is to milk animals? Those animals obviously have to be kept alive to be milked. Then why are dairies a common source of hide, which is a product of dead animals? How does an industry that relies on live animals become a supplier of dead ones? Let us think about it. And let us stay safe and avoid so-called ahinsak leather too unless we wish to use the hide of uneconomical male calves intentionally starved to death. Or may be the skins of animals put to death in vivisection laboratories, or the skins of animals, including dogs “mercy killed” in veterinary hospitals. Municipalities make contracts with Kora Kendras to lift all dead animals which include very few natural deaths and hardly any road accident victims. Over and above which when they run out of leather they have no qualms of purchasing it from the open market, the source of which is no other than the slaughter house.
In 2005, animal activists found out that Mahim creek (Mumbai) had been turned into a graveyard for newly born male calves. It was extremely painful for them to see bodies of so many calves stripped of their skins and legs tied with string and wire. The modus operandi according to residents of the area was that men from Dharavi wait to pick up and ruthlessly skin alive, the unwanted male calves which have been stuffed into gunny bags and thrown out of moving trains in the early hours of the morning, having been bought from cattle sheds of Goregaon, Jogeshwari and Malad for amounts ranging from Rs 5000 to 7000 by leather traders.
Bhaam no Ijaaro means contract for collect of dead animals and this is exactly what most panjrapoles (goshalas) of Gujarat believe in undertaking. One of the biggest panjrapoles has an annual tender of Rs 20 lakhs, so figure out how many animals must be disposed off every day at Rs 150 each. This income from carcasses makes panjrapoles reluctant to want to, leave alone try hard to save cattle (usually in their last stages) they receive because they have to spend to keep them alive whereas if they die they get money. As good as abandoned, animals are left in mud and muck outside while the sheds are empty. Moreover, they refuse to accept sheep, goats or any animals that are a result of a Police complaint. In view of this, leather obtained from such cattle can not be considered ahinsak either.
Leather tanning is an environmentalist’s nightmare. In 2011 the Minister for Environment & Forests said that close to 50% of the leather processing units in the Ganga river basin were located in Uttar Pradesh (Jajmau, Unnao and Banthar) and West Bengal. Together they used 3,000 tonnes of tanning salts daily to preserve (process) 5,000 tonnes of raw hides, and close to 90% lands up in the Ganga and groundwater leading to pollution and contamination. The most heavily polluted stretch of 500 kms was between Kanauj and Varanasi. In fact, 30 units were issued directions, of which 6 were for closure. (These units weren’t all tanneries – some were distilleries, paper mills and chemical factories.) In July 2017 the National Green Tribunal warned that if these tanneries did not strictly follow their orders, they would face closure. In 2018 UP ordered tanneries in Kanpur to observe a shutdown from December 15, 2018 till March 15, 2019 in order to arrest the flow of effluents into the Ganga during the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad starting January 2019. However, after the tannery labour unions petitioned the Allahabad High Court, the UP Pollution Control Board relaxed its order and said that all the 249 units in question at the Jajmau area would be allowed to operate at no more than 50% capacity.
In contrast to this, in April 2013 the Council for Leather Exports shockingly planned to get into organised cattle farming to bridge the shortage of raw leather, the demand for which had resulted in imports doubling in the five years to Rs 2153.3 crore in 2010-11. They blamed it on illegal movement of live cattle and unfinished leather from India to Bangladesh. (Some estimates have put the annual turnover from leather and meat of cattle smuggled at over Rs 25 billion.) The CLE strategy was to get meat and dairy producers on board and then get the support from the Ministry of Agriculture so that they get good quality leather – in other words, cattle will be bred only to be killed basically for their skin when young and healthy. BWC wrote to the Minister of Commerce appealing that the scheme be abandoned immediately. Two months later a non-committal and unsatisfactory reply was received from the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (Leather Section) which can be read here. Therefore, BWC again wrote to the Minister and asked if the organized cattle farming concept was to merely encourage implementation of better animal welfare measures and not for killing of animals for leather, why was it taken up by the Council of Leather Exports? The CLE needed to totally and immediately abandon the concept of undertaking organised cattle farming and we requested assurance to this effect.
Under India’s Import Policy 2012 hides and skins of bovine (including buffalo) or equine animals can be imported “free” (allowed). Cow, including cow calf, buffalo, including buffalo calf, and others have been specifically stated as allowed. Similarly, skins of sheep and lambs, baby lambs, kids, swine and reptiles are also allowed but import is subject to Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972 and CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). In fact the policy allows “free” import of many articles made of leather ranging from saddles and harnesses to handbags and accessories.
On 3 January 2017 the Directorate of Foreign Trade issued an amendment (DGFT Notification No 33/2015-2020) to the import policy prohibiting reptile skins, mink, fox, and chinchilla fur. Moreover, on 28 March 2018 DGFT Public Notice 59 stated “Policy Condition: Import of seal skin, in any form, is prohibited” under Chapter 41, 42 and 43 of ITC (HS), 2017. Unfortunately the 3 January 2017 Policy was reversed from “Prohibited” to “Free” vide Notification No 55/2015-2020 dated 7 January 2021. On getting to know in April 2021 BWC approached the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, as well as the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, to again reverse and place reptile skins, mink, fox, chinchilla and add all animal furs in the Prohibited category of the Import Policy particularly in view of foreign fur farms having closed down due to Covid-19. BWC got to later know that the removal of the import prohibition had been taken up by the Council For Leather Exports and their request was granted.
Promoting leather is not only done by Indian companies such as Hidesign (they even market sunglasses “handcrafted from natural acetate and leather”) in 2011 November, the international fashion house Hermes held a demonstration by their craftsmen at their Mumbai outlet. They boasted on their long-standing tradition of hand-stitching individual pieces like their Bearn wallet which they assembled using filet and perloir tools, dye and a lump of beeswax. BWC wonders why they called the material “exotic leather” not ostrich leather. A gimmick used to market a Withings smart-watch claimed it had a soft tan leather strap which was shipped from an ‘ancestral’ French tannery! That’s not all, the latest gimmick discovered by the CLRI is the use of solid leather waste (745 kgs is generated during processing of 1,000 kgs of raw hide) to create nano-composite material to make items like aircraft, cars, bikes, light-weight construction material, electrical switches, and computer cabinets, and of course soles of shoes! The material is created by combining the dust from buffing with a polymer which could be epoxy or synthetic rubber and certain nano-particles of titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide, and cured through heat additives to toughen it.
Pros and Cons
Child labour: Few are aware that in India children are made to illegally work in tanneries and leather goods workshops. This happens despite the existence of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. Conservative estimates indicate that in 2026 there were over 1 crore children (ages 5 to 14) working in India. Bonded labour, despite being outlawed under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976, and Article 23 of the Indian Constitution, persists across various sectors in India. Exploitative recruitment, wage theft and debt bondage are deeply entrenched in informal and vulnerable industries. In June 2026 the United States imposed higher tariffs on India for failing to enforce bans on bonded and child labour.
2 Columns and Rows
Meat and Leather are two sides of the same Coin
Leather or Faux Leather?: First, read the label. A reliable way to check if the material in question is animal leather or not is to smell it – if animal leather, it will have a typical odour reminiscent of a dead animal. If still in doubt, if possible try to inspect its edges and under-surface by prying it open slightly: if it is not leather, threads or a texture like woven material will be visible, otherwise it will be very smooth. Or else, burn a corner: leather will burn without a flame and give off an odour of burning flesh, whereas all synthetic leathers will quickly catch fire because they are polymer based. Another way to check is by applying a bit of saliva: animal leather absorbs moisture, but on faux leather it will not “disappear”. Furthermore, synthetic leathers have an unbroken, uniform pattern over their entire surface, whereas the pores or grains of animal leather varies in patches and looks similar to human skin. If the texture is very stiff, bubbles are visible, or looks like it may crack, it is Pleather (plastic on leather) or Bicast/Bi-cast/Bycast leather or PU leather which consists of a thick layer of plastic or PU (Poly-Urethane) applied to bonded/reconstituted leather. Nevertheless it is important to remember the names Pleather, Bicast and PU leather because just being three times cheaper than genuine leather, or if a better quality of Bicast in which bubbles etc are not visible, or if the words synthetic or artificial are used to describe the products, they can still contain real animal leather.
Page last updated on 23/06/26