Why no leather?

5 reasons why we choose vegan and sustainable materials for our shoes and fashion accessories

Animals are beautiful and sentient creatures

Animals are sensitive beings like us. They have feelings and a disposition that is often nobler than that of many people. They give us their unconditional friendship if we respect them. We have no right to take their life and let them suffer. Pythagoras (Greek mathematician and philosopher, c. 582-496 BC) once said:

"Everything that man does to animals comes back to the man."

Rather, it is our duty to respect them, protect them, and help them wherever we can.

This is our first motivation, but there are also the following reasons why we have offered our vegan shoes and fashion accessories since 2009:

Combating world hunger

Meat and leather production go hand in hand. The skin of animals is the “economically most important product of the meat industry”. Each year about 230 million cattle, 350 million sheep, 175 million goats and 700 million pigs are butchered because of their meat and their skin.

49% of the annual worldwide corn crop and 90% of the annual worldwide soybeans crop are consumed by 20 billion livestock. This means that with a corn crop of 2,23 billion tons and a global population of about 7,8 billion humans, each person could be provided with 286 gramme of corn - were not half of the corn fed to animals.

Avoiding the destruction of land

Livestock breeding is by far the greatest utilizer of land on this earth. Pastureland takes over

29% of the ice-free surface of the earth;
33% of the whole expanse of arable farming is used for the production of fodder.

All in all livestock breeding takes up

70% of the entire land used for farming, and
30% of the surface of this planet.

In the U.S.A. livestock breeding is responsible for

55% of the erosion of earth,
37% of the use of pesticides, as well as
50% of the use of antibiotics.
90% of the destruction of tropical rain forests is due to intensive livestock farming

For the sake of the environment

A study conducted in Bangladesh has shown that the leather industry pollutes the environment more through tanning alone than the textile, pharmaceutical, chemical fertiliser, and paper industries combined.

Chromium and various highly toxic and polluting chemicals are used to tan leather.

Analyses show that the groundwater in the areas surrounding the tanneries contains dangerously high levels of chromium, lead, formaldehyde, and even cyanide, which has a highly negative impact on the environment and wildlife, as well as on human health.

The enormous amounts of antibiotics administered to animals (in Italy 70% of total production!) must also not be underestimated. Living in confined spaces, the animals become increasingly susceptible to disease.

On the one hand, antibiotics are ingested by humans via meat, which thus becomes resistant to them; on the other hand, they are excreted and enter the soil and groundwater.

For the Climate

It is also certain that the billions of animals still forced to eke out a life of miserable existence, and that at the end of their young and sorrowful being they will be slaughtered, then they will, at last, find relief. There will also not be so many “economically useful animals” because they will not be artificially established as meat and leather production-machines. This also means: less production of methane gas = less greenhouse effect.

Our responsibility – our vision

These are just a few relevant facts, briefly touched on. However, they are fundamental and comprehensive aspects of human existence, which apply to all of us, because we live on this wonderful planet named Earth, and – whether we accept it or refuse it – have to take mutual responsibility for it.

For us all these aspects are important, and with our activity, we want to fulfil our contribution so that there will be a change in this world. Our vision is a world in which human beings, nature and animals may live in mutual respect and peace with one another, and in which each one shares happiness with the other.

The beauty, the harmony of colour and form, and the wellbeing of humans are of equal importance to us. It is well-known that in Italy the art of shoe-making has already reached its peak, and is, therefore, valued worldwide. And that is the reason why we have chosen Italian Firms to make the beautiful and, at the same time, comfortable shoes for us, out of high quality and leather-free materials. You can try out the results for yourselves: elegant and casual shoes, boots and ankle boots for every day and every occasion, as well as complementary fashion accessories.

Think about it: just one small step and you can tread more light-footed and with more love for animals throughout the world – with vegan shoes from NOAH!