How One Shoe Company is Changing the Narrative for Leather Processing
Leather is one of the ten most polluting industries in the world—that is, if you do it wrong. The leather I’m talking about is the cheap stuff you find at big name retailers like Primark and H&M. Leather processing requires a practically endless supply of water, so most tanneries are built adjacent to rivers. But processing leather also requires a slew of highly toxic chemicals, including the heavy metals chromium and lead, which are usually dumped in a nearby body of water and swept downstream.
Up until last year, tanneries in Kanpur were producing a virtually constant stream of chemicals that are released into the Ganges river (Ganga), the main water source for over ⅓ of India’s population. (The Ganga is also the holiest river in India—many Indians consider it “a source of renewal during life and as portal to the next world after death.”) The Indian government took action to shut down 98 tanneries in 2016, but the pollution they caused still persists. Massive sections of the Ganga are biologically dead; aquatic life has been wiped out by the toxic effluents from tanneries (and other industries). The water from the river in Kanpur is unsafe to drink, and a lot of the surrounding soil is contaminated as well. Pollutants have even been found in the groundwater nearby. The effects of these pollutants on public health are devastating; many Indians suffer from renal, neurological and respiratory illnesses as a result of drinking contaminated water or eating food grown in contaminated soil.
But I digress. Kanpur is not the only area that has been devastated by leather tanneries. Conventional leather processing is harmful to surrounding ecosystems and human health if its byproducts are released into the environment. There is, however, a responsible way to process leather that doesn’t involve using toxic chemicals and heavy metals—and one shoe company, Fortress of Inca, is doing just that. Their approach to making shoes is environmentally friendly and socially responsible. For starters, the shoes are made in Peru, a country with strict environmental and labor regulations. The leather used to make Fortress of Inca shoes is sourced from tanneries that use vegetable-based compounds for tanning, rather than conventional heavy metals like lead and chrome-6. All of the tanneries have their own water and residue treatment facilities to ensure the effluent is dealt with responsibly. The hides used are not from cattle raised specifically for the leather industry—they’re a byproduct of the beef industry, and if these hides weren’t used for leather, they would likely be left to rot, creating an environmental problem of its own. So these shoes are directly eliminating organic waste from the beef industry AND creating respectable jobs for Peruvians.
Yep, these shoes are not just environmentally friendly—they’re socially responsible, too. As mentioned before, Peru has strict labor laws that ensure all workers are paid a fair wage and have great benefits no matter their field of employment. These baseline laws include:
- Maternity leave of three months, and a shorter paternity leave for the spouse
- Healthcare for the entire family, until the children reach adulthood
- A family bonus—workers who have a family add roughly 15% of the minimum wage to their salary, which “incentives the workers to formalize the relationships and recognize their children as dependents.”
Fortress of Inca shoe factories support 90 families. All of the employees are paid fair wages, enough to ensure that they and their families have an excellent quality of life and can even afford higher education for their children. Fortress of Inca chooses not to cut costs so as to keep their business model altruistic, so their shoes aren’t cheap—a pair can cost $150-$350. But that’s nothing compared to what other high-end retailers will charge you, even though their leather is tanned with chrome-6 and their employees are paid poverty wages. The difference is in the profit margins—at Fortress of Inca, the bottom line isn’t getting rich, it’s providing people with beautiful, long-lasting shoes made with the highest quality leather by fairly treated workers.
As someone who is conscious of the impact her apparel has on people and the planet, I’ve always been a little weary of leather (which is tragic because it’s such a great material). But Fortress of Inca has restored my faith in the ability to own gorgeous leather products while truly doing good for the world. No, they’re not cheap, but in the long run you’ll save money by not buying a new pair of boots from H&M every year once they go out of style or fall apart. I’ve got my eye on the Cara bootie—just look at this beautiful buttery leather!
Head on over to Fortress of Inca’s webpage to check out their styles. They’ve got everything from classic heels to gold ankle booties, and styles for all genders. Thanks for reading my latest Sustainable Fashion Spotlight!
Elizabeth F. Olson 