“Fur? I am out of that. I don’t want to kill animals to make fashion,” Donatella Versace said in 2018, one year before Prada officially joined Gucci, Burberry and Coach in banning fur from its offerings.
But many fashion brands continue to use leather, even as consumer interest in animal-free products continues to mount. In the UK, the number of products described as “vegan” rose 75 per cent in the 12 months to January 2019, according to Edited. (It grew by 320 per cent in Denmark.) The global synthetic leather market, which is currently valued at $25 billion, is projected to reach $45 billion by 2025.