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Apple Could Still Pull the Plug on Its Much-Maligned FineWoven Cases
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Vegan "leather" is a joke - it's plastic. Plastic is one of the worse things for our planet.
Leather is a byproduct of other production that is already happening (even if you're against farming, whatever). Yes Apple had plastic IN their leather cases but the amount was much less as it was just for structure and was thin.
I very much miss having an Apple branded leather case on my phone. Not in love with the other options.
This 1000%! Acting as if they are helping the environment all while creating products yearly that only add to the growing waste. How many of these FineWoven products just got dumbed into the garbage to add to waste? Also last year when they stopped selling leather goods, the reports from Apple employees were that they were directed by Apple to pull all leather good off the shelf and throw them in the dumpster. I mean if this is not just massive waste, I don't know what is. This is about the bottom line for them. How can they make the most money. They don't care about the environment.
After having their leather cases since they first came out oh so many years ago, was forced to try to silicone.
Their silicone cases feel nice in the hand and the dark colors look newer longer. Just bought red for my wife’s 12. Shall see how long it lasts. The leather case was pretty ugly after a year.
Their silicone cases feel nice in the hand and the dark colors look newer longer. Just bought red for my wife’s 12. Shall see how long it lasts. The leather case was pretty ugly after a year.
I used to loyally only buy Apple cases for my iPhone. Then I got wasted money on a Finewoven case and wallet that legit fell apart in a month. Furious that Apple would put out such a crap product, and at that price!!
I’ve since moved to a third party case and wallet, and likely will never purchase another case accessory from Apple again. They legit lost customers over this BS.
Pull it. Kill it. Apologize to your customers.
I’ve since moved to a third party case and wallet, and likely will never purchase another case accessory from Apple again. They legit lost customers over this BS.
Pull it. Kill it. Apologize to your customers.
It's ironic that in the 20th century, man-made leather substitutes used in furniture and clothing etc were seen as the poor man's choice and were priced accordingly. Now exactly the same materials are marketed as "environmental" and attract premium pricing!
From your link
“The vast majority of vegan leather is produced from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyurethane (PU). Each is a type of petroleum-based plastic — meaning it can take thousands of years for PU and PVC leather to biodegrade
“
I.e plastic . Made from fossil fuels.
Vegan leather is a marketing term for plastic.
Isn’t that a given, that your agenda is more important than mine?
Dear Apple: your Finewoven cases lasted less than a YEAR. That's not eco-friendly. You know what IS eco-friendly? Leather.
I wonder if Apple has explored using Alcantara in their cases. I have a third-party Alcantara-wrapped case on my 15 Pro and I absolutely love it.
It’s not just the fact that Apple wants customers to believe plastic is more “earth friendly” than leather… it’s the hilarity that Apple makes its products less upgradeable, more inaccessible for repairs, more toss-away versus upgrade, and charges outrageous premiums for upgrades at purchase (such as iPad and Mac RAM).
Apple doesn’t give a $hĩt about the environment or anything besides profit, and anyone with common sense knows this. These cases are objectively terrible.
Apple doesn’t give a $hĩt about the environment or anything besides profit, and anyone with common sense knows this. These cases are objectively terrible.
There are vegan leathers made from agricultural sources, but it's the same stuff in the end as if it was made from petroleum. Both sources are hydrocarbon strings at the base level, and crude was originally plant material.
Source: Organic chemist for years, before moving on to pharmacy.
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Dying cloth and tanning leather are NOT the same. Turning skin into leather also requires massive amounts of energy and dangerous chemicals, including mineral salts, formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and various oils, dyes, and finishes, some of them cyanide-based. Most leather produced in the U.S. is chrome-tanned, and all wastes containing chromium are considered hazardous by the EPA.
I have this feeling that Apple will offer real leather cases again after the FineWoven fiasco.
I didn’t say they were the same. Just simply neither is good for the environment. In the long run the plastics used in the FineWoven are going to waste that can’t be broken down easily. This was not an environmental move by Apple, but purely a profit grab. FineWoven is much cheaper to produce but they charged the same price.
The term vegan leather is driven by ideology, yes, but that doesnt mean that plastics are inherently bad. Plastics can actually be better for the environment if used the right way. A good example is clothing. Polyester based clothing can be worn for years and years, while cotton based clothes wear out quickly and need to be replaced far more frequently. And producing less a crucial step towards a more environmental friendly economy. It depends on how all these available materials are being used. This FineWoven crap is a just an example of how not to use plastics, but the same goes for leather. How many of those leather cases got thrown into the trash as soon as the next iPhone was released? Millions is my guess. The best material for phone cases are bio degradable plastics imo.
Edit: btw, most leather cases have a structural base made out of… plastic 😉
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They would be better off to stop making their own premium cases since they consider leather unethical and beneath them. I bought my case elsewhere after they made that decision. I applaud pulling plastic out of the oceans, but that does not mean I want companies trying to sell me so called premium stuff made out of the crap. Personally I think that their whole leather/finewoven decision is plain virtue signaling, but I still love Apple devices; I just don’t want their cases anymore.
Also FYI if Apple cared about the environment they would add user accounts to iPad so that more households could share fewer devices.
The mob hate for Fine Woven is wild. Maybe the cost isn't cheap, but I've had a Fine Woven on my 15 pro for about a year now and it's by far the best case I've ever had. I hate leather, silicon, hard plastic.
And they would not send marketing material to people with the prior model of iPhone advising you to upgrade to the latest model of iPhone when it is released like they are sure to do in a week or two. (I have a 15 Pro Max and I am sure they will make sure I know that I can upgrade, which I likely will do. This will also incidentally result in me buying a new 3rd party leather case to replace the 3rd party leather case that I bought last year). I appreciate everything that Apple has done to make packaging eliminate plastic and how that has influenced other brands. That was far more effective at helping the environment than pushing these cheap plastic cases as replacements for the leather ones.
go woke, go broke Apple. For the price of your cases you could use salmon leather or waygo/kobe leather - leather from cows given a beer each day, raised by hand and stroked by hand every day.
And if people don‘t want to use leather cases, sales will go down.
Or even better, don‘t change the formfactor of your phones every year, so leather cases could be used several years …
And if people don‘t want to use leather cases, sales will go down.
Or even better, don‘t change the formfactor of your phones every year, so leather cases could be used several years …
This.
It's the price that's the problem, IMO. A different, but related problem is the lack of a genuine leather option.
Everything about these dire so-called fine-woven cases disgusts me: the egregiously poor quality, the feel of them, the appearance of them and the cynical attempt by Apple to appear concerned for the environment whilst profiteering outrageously from selling an inexpensive and inferior product at similar prices to the leather versions.
I suspect these are no better for the environment, and if a cow is slaughtered for meat, why not make use of its hide? How they must have laughed when they came up with this one, but hopefully it has come back to bite them on the backside. I like most of my Apple products, but heads need to roll over this misguided project.
I suspect these are no better for the environment, and if a cow is slaughtered for meat, why not make use of its hide? How they must have laughed when they came up with this one, but hopefully it has come back to bite them on the backside. I like most of my Apple products, but heads need to roll over this misguided project.