My Small Store is a proud reseller of these Australian leather handbags designed and crafted by Sata Fashion.
This designer is based in Melbourne, Australia and focuses on becoming the top genuine leather producer. I think they reached the top already, just look at their bags!
This laptop bag perfectly exemplifies what Sata Fashion designs and crafts in Australia from 100% genuine hunter leather.
Okay, I received many complaints about these bags not being #VEGAN. What about the welfare of the cows? And so on and so forth.
As a reminder, in 2023, the world consumed 158 billion pounds of beef (read more here). During the same period, according to a 2020 survey by Swissveg, there were 5.1% vegetarians and 1% vegans. This means that at least 93% of the world’s population eats meat and/or fish. Thus, many cows were harvested for their meat.
Their skin or cowhide is a byproduct of meat and dairy products. No cow or other animals are slaughtered for their skins, not even snakes. Maybe crocodiles, but I doubt it. I lived long enough in Africa to know the volume of meat consumed from these reptiles.
Something that makes me smile is we often pick “synthetic leather” because it’s better for animals and the environment.
Most of the time, synthetic leather is made of Polyurethane (AKA PU), which is a 100% chemical product made from fossil fuels; thus, plenty of carbon dioxide is emitted during production – about 3.7 lbs of CO2 per pound of raw PU produces as much as burning a gallon of gasoline. I am not talking about producing PU, which is far from being non-toxic. In Europe and the US, we made significant progress, but many Chinese PU plants do not have any of our regulations, which can be, or I should say, very polluting.
I see you are interested in plant-based PU, right? These PUs are in their infancy and are mostly used for insulation. My major concern is that they do not use the plant. They extract oil (mechanical and chemical process) from the plant, which needs to be produced in enormous quantities, which means chemical fertilizers, pesticides, water overconsumption, natural land loss, etc.
Yes, there are a few companies producing PU with tree bark and fruit peels, recycled airbags, and plastic bottles, but always remember that anything processed needs energy, water, and pollution.
Why Leather Handbags?
As already said, cowhide, mutton, goat, and pork skins are byproducts, thus renewable. Harvested animal byproducts are used in manufacturing soap, glue, fertilizer, gelatin, medicines, and other products.
Many cry at the heavy metal pollution caused by the tanning process to make leather handbags. They refer to the good old industrial age Chromium tanning, which is still used in China and other parts of the world to produce cheap leather. Many manufacturers use the “new” vegetable tanning.
Do you know when this “new” process was invented? It’s quite recent. It was discovered in Sumer (modern-day Iraq and Kuwait) around 5,000 years ago. The hides were then soaked in water containing Mimosa bark and leaves soaked in this water. The leather was used to make primitive clothing, which kept the wearer warm, provided camouflage, and allowed them to transport their belongings.
Chrome tanning was invented in 1858 by the German engineer Friedrich Knapp and Hylten Cavalin from Sweden. However, an American chemist named Augustus Schultz first patented the process. In the following decades, chrome tanning became the most common and dominant form of tanning as it didn’t require any technical skills to process.
Why leather handbags? Leather comes from a renewable source, can be processed in an eco-friendly way, and does not involve petroleum or heavy chemical industry. It ends up not being as bad, right?
Sata Fashion produces leather handbags in an eco-friendly way. True that Australian-designed and cleanly crafted bags are more expensive than cheap ones made with chromium tanning leather you can find on AliExpress. Many genuine leather handbags can be found for less than $60 with reviews such as “stunk for months” or “the smell is so bad I have to leave it in the garage.”
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