Ok, I may think rabbits are food, but I guess I can understand animal lovers not wanting them to die. Kind of. What puzzles me is how it benefits the world to wear plastic simulations of animal hide and fur. Now, instead of a quick death to the animal, we need crude oil for yet another reason and are more likely to see animals slowly die from oil spills. Now instead of being good for animal feed or fertilizer or even dinner, the dead animals are toxic to pretty much anything, including other animals that may feed on dead rotting things. So it just me, or were we further ahead wearing the skins of real animals then we are faking it?
As a more than 30-year vegetarian, who is really more of a treehugger, I have been over this ground many times. I want biodegradable, natural fibers. I can live with rayon, and raw silk (there is a way that used empty cocoons). I can live with reuse silk and wool, and in specific uses, leather. I personally have a very hard time buying new leather. I am looking at getting a pair of boots that will last for a couple decades with care and sole repair. I'd consider leather in that case. I buy clothing that lasts. No two year items for me. I am wearing shoes from 1998 most days. I've repaired them several times, mostly as re-soles. They are nylon, so I must make the last as long as possible. I question if we need fur at all. We have options that aren't hair attached to skin, but are not from oil. I'm split on PET fleece and blends. One hand, it's reuse of existing plastic. Other hand, it allows people to be OK with single use bottles, and bottled water as a commodity. I suspect we have no perfect answer, only better answers.
I see counterfeit designer bags, purses and all sorts of other things in various places walking down the sidewalk...for as little as ten bucks! The real deal would be several hundred dollars and they are almost indistinguishable from the real thing!
Shoes from 1998? You have had better luck than I have. Most of mine have so little left that they are past repairs. I don have a pair of pleather boots with sound soles that I want to get new uppers for. They lasted 5 years before the ankles went, but the rubber soles are still solid. I happen to agree that for the lang term, leather would be more durable and if I had to replace them a second time, the leather would at least biodegrade nicely. I feel that if an animal is used for food, the use of the skin for clothing is not so bad. I would only buy rabbit hides if I I knew the rest of the animal was used, like from a local native tribe. to me, it seems wasteful to leave any part of an animal to be unused if it's dead anyway. Then again, it is not meat I am against, it's mistreatment. Wild game and free range are in my mind different then the corporate meat industry. After all, cats an dogs still need meat, so it will have to come from somewhere, but this does not justify abuse.
Well, that is why omnivores tend to use leather. It has benefits. Pleather has made inroads as fast fashion. That's a lot of PUv in landfills. I might dither myself, but overall, the treehugger wins in my mind, and the reality is biodegradable is better, depending on the tanning process.
