Good opinion but don’t forget that the sale of leather is an inherent part of the cattle rearing business, not a byproduct or a waste. The revenue from leather is probably quite lower than from the meat but it is a revenue nonetheless.This drives me crazy - I’m a leather technician and if people understood leather is made from taking a byproduct (waste, if you like) of the meat industry, and reusing it as a sustainable, long lasting material. What do we think happens if we don’t use these hides for leather - they go to landfill 🤷♂️ I’m all for apple creating different bands/using different materials, but don’t tell me something synthetic, bound by acrylics, is going to be more sustainable and better for the environment. The move by apple for sure is to appear ‘greener’ to certain consumers, but in reality will come down to cost savings.
I see people commenting that they are all for saving animals - but animals typically used for leather (Bovine) are never killed for the hides - they are killed for the meat.
These animals will be slaughtered if apple makes leather bands or not.
Not using the leather will in the long term increase the price of meat and that will reduce the consumption of it. This business will inevitably become a luxury for the majority of people.
That being said, I think providing petrol based materials as a replacement is far worse. Ideally we should go for some new materials based on cotton, silk, linen or the like. That would be an amazing improvement!