The answer to that depends, at least in part, on how much you like fish leather as opposed to leather from cow hides. In addition to being one of the biggest buyers of organic cotton, Nike has also shaken up traditional sportswear design with fish leather sneakers, pictured above. Would you wear those sneakers?
Perhaps another part of fish leather’s success is in people knowing it exists. In fact fishskin has been around for a while now. Famed shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo “used fish leather before and during the hardship years of World War II when materials and supplies for shoemaking were scarce.” -shenlei.com
I’m not sure how green and alternative fish leather is to cow leather. Certainly some fish will die but it seems there greener ways to care for this fabric than cow leather offers. “Atlantic Leather is the first company in the world to develop a method of making fishleather machine washable.” Fish Leather can even be used to make furniture, just like cow leather.
Perch leather, shown above, is made from the skin of the Nile perch. “It is characterized by a rough-hewn surface of coarse scales, which conjures up a certain wild and primal charm. Perch leather is much thicker than other types of fishleather, such as salmon.” -atlanticleather.is
Salmon leather, shown above, “is thin and pliable, although quite strong compared to other hides of this thickness. The scales follow a delicate, repeated pattern, but the most noticeable feature is the narrow band that runs along the center of salmon leather hides.” -atlanticleather.is
Atlantic Leather offers a variety of textures, colors and surface treatments for its fish leather. In addition to Nike, their client’s include brands like Prada, Dior, Nike, Ferragamo and Puma. So some fish leather may be coming to s store near you.
Would you wear fish leather? If you wear cow leather what would make you consider a switch? What if it was radically cheaper than traditional leather?
-Reposted from: http://www.sofreshandsogreen.com
