I made the mistake of watching this last night.
I wish I hadn't.
Words cannot articulate how haunted I am by these images. I didn't sleep much and even today I can't get them out of my head. No living creature deserves to die like this.
That nice leather wallet you have in your purse? Yeah. It was made in China.
Those beautiful leather Nike's you're wearing? Those were made in China too.
How about that leather iPad cover? You guessed it.
Everything that you buy that's made of leather from China only says "genuine leather upper". It doesn't specify what animal contributed it. And I think we just figured it out.
Do you think they're going to waste an entire cow hide to make the small pieces needed to sew up a purse? I doubt it too. As someone who sews, there would be too much waste to justify doing that. That leather is reserved for our car interiors, couches, and jackets where larger pieces are needed.
In America, we generate enough leather from the beef industry to keep us well stocked. Most of the slaughterhouses here are mandated and regulated to be humane. Yet the idea of shipping our leather hides over to China to produce our fashion statements is costly. So to turn a bigger profit, these companies are essentially condoning this indescribable practice.
If you really want to make a difference, start writing to Nike and the many other companies that are producing leather goods, demanding proof of where the materials came from. Post it on your facebooks, email your friends and tell your neighbors.
Then stop buying their crap. You don't need it. And I certainly don't want it if an animal had to go through hell alive to give it to me. |