Leather...
On a family trip to California in the 1960's, we stopped in Tijuana Mexico. My dad had some extra cash and bought the family some souvenirs. I got a suede fringe jacket (similar to the photo below)
Prior to this, all the jackets I remember wearing were nylon wind breakers or some woven material. I absolutely loved that jacket and wore it everywhere. winter, summer, rain or shine. Eventually, I got bigger and unable to fit the jacket and it was stored in a back closet, forgotten for many years, where it and some other abandoned clothing got fuzzy green with mold and had to be discarded.
Having played music, we (band members) were expected to follow trends. From Mod paisley shirts, wide belts, Nehru jackets, bell bottom jeans and tie-dyed shirts. Throw in a tuxedo or two when I played the club circuit, but I never wore leather.
Jim Morrison wore leather, probably 10 years before it became fashionable. After that phase, nearly every stage performer had leather pants.
Comments (8)
It just occurred to me reading your blog that given the recent rise in people favouring plant based diets, whether a shift away from animal cruelty will eventually lead to leather being as frowned upon as fur coats are now.
It's unfortunate that plastics are such a poor substitute in terms of environmental issues and fabric quality. It's fairly impossible to be environmentally and animal cruelty squeaky clean, but I would like to see more progress in the area of fabrics.
The alternative is to stop eating any meat, great idea, but then what happens to pigs, Cattle, etc? They have become domesticated, if we don't farm them they will die and become extinct.
So Vegans, instead of protecting the death of animals for food will actually cause their ultimate demise.
The debate over carnivores V omnivores is never ending, but in my opinion, humans need meat and vegetables, not one or the other.
Managed. albeit poorly, animal farming, that produces food, wool, leather and has a small impact on the planet as a whole or man-made food that is chemical,often carcinogenic, fibre that together with plastic are indestructible and extremely harmful to ALL wildlife, just look at what is happening in oceans around the world?
We need to look at the whole picture, not just the 21st Century, I want my grandchildren to swim with Dolphins, want them to see lions, tigers, rhino, etc etc just like I have done. But if Vegetarians get their way and meat is outlawed, both your and my grandchildren will lose out in the end.
4 of us crossed the border at El Paso to Juarez and had a blast.
We found a leather shop and they literally made me a jacket and boots to match right on me,
custom....for a song. I can only imagine how much it would be now.
I used to be able to get a fabric of the trade name Tencel which was regenerated wood pulp. It would breath like a natural fibre, but would hang and resist creasing like a synthetic - the best of both worlds.
The trouble was, enzymes and alkaline products were used in the processing which then were dumped into the environment.
TENCEL® is a brand, the trademark is owned by Lenzing Fibers location Austria.
Eucalyptus used in Tencel fabric productionThe fibre used for the TENCEL® fabric is called Lyocell.
Lyocell is obtained from traceable and sustainable wood pulp (Eucalyptus trees are grown on farms certified by the Forest Stewardship Council – FSC) being dissolved in a non toxic organic recovered and reused solvent, thus using an extrusion method through tiny holes comes Lyocell fibres.
"Lyocell is made from the cellulose obtained from wood pulp (Cellulose is a natural polymer found in all vegetative living cells, apparently, trees are 50% cellulose and cotton around 90% cellulose) and the process of Lyocell production starts by treating wood chips in such a way that they form into a substance resembling thick paper.
This paper like material is then cut up and broken down into small pieces and then chemically dissolved, forming a cellulose slurry. This is then extruded through a device with many tiny holes in it..."
Quote from the-eco-market.com/tencel-fabric/
I'd be dead chuffed if the process has been improved, however.