What Is Vegan Leather? The Best Alternatives For 2025

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Vegan leather is a game-changing innovation for those who avoid animal products. But what is vegan leather exactly?

Recent advancements in materials and technology combined with growing consumer interest in sustainability mean that there is a wider variety of vegan leather options than ever before, and high-end fashion designers and high street labels alike are now championing these materials. However, not all vegan leather alternatives are equally effective or sustainable.

Here’s everything you need to know about vegan leather in 2025, including what it is, what it’s made out of, and where this plant-based fashion trend might be heading next.

Why isn't leather vegan?

Leather is tanned skin, and it isn’t vegan because it’s made from animals.

Leather mostly comes from cows, but it can also be from sheep, goats, horses, pigs, seals, alligators, and many other animals. Modern leather-making is lucrative, and contrary to popular belief, animal skins are co-products of the meat industry, not simply byproducts.

While traditional leather-making has been practiced by humans for thousands of years, most leather today is mass-produced. This creates tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions and causes environmental damage, pollution, and human deaths, in addition to animal deaths.

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