In sustainable fashion, breathless promises about vegan leather have arrived thick and fast for over a decade. Innovations promise mushroom and cactus alternatives that look and feel like real leather – minus the negative associations with methane, deforestation, chemical pollution and animal welfare. While these next-gen materials have absorbed billions of dollars in capital under an environmental banner, experts are concerned they remain a shiny distraction while the fashion industry’s emissions and reliance on fossil fuel-derived materials grows. “Apple leather, orange leather, pineapple leather, fruit salad leather. It’s like, seriously do we really have to call it leather?” the founder of Nature Matters, Dr Helen Crowley, says. She spent a decade leading nature and sustainable sourcing for the luxury conglomerate Kering. “I haven’t yet seen an alternative leather become an alternative, I’ve seen it just added to the portfolio. It’s about more variety and more stories to sell more stuff.” According to Textile Exchange, global production of raw hides used in traditional leather – a co-product of the meat industry – has increased steadily over …