Janet Hamilton, owner of Farrier Leather on sustainable fashion and making responsible choices as consumers

Creating a world that is not only sustainable but regenerative extends past our plates into what we wear. With the rise of fast fashion and unchecked consumerism, buying quality, real leather goods is one way to make your wardrobe more sustainable. 

You can read my article here about the problems in the textile industry and how many of the “ethical” or “better” options fall short.  One solution is long lasting quality goods made from leather. 

A few years ago the Savory Institute connected me with Janet Hamilton, owner of Farrier Leather, a company dedicated to making sustainable vegetable tanned leather goods. Janet makes beautiful, functional pieces from responsibly sourced materials and continues to strive for higher standards as availability improves.

Join my co host, Lauren Manning and Janet as they discuss the role of real leather in the sustainability movement and other topics:

-Why Janet started Farrier Leather and the barriers she faced finding well-sourced raw materials

-The benefits  of  traditional vegetable tanning methods over current methods using chromium salts

-Other brands that are concerned with leather sourcing

-The good and the bad about sustainable materials becoming more mainstream

-Correcting misconceptions about leather and highlighting the problems with vegan leather

-How to start making more sustainable choices - and it’s not throwing out all your clothes and starting over

-Sometimes the most sustainable choice is choosing not to buy 

-It’s about better choices, not perfect choices. Define your personal priorities

-It’s not used. It’s vintage!

-How Janet learned how to make leather goods

-Janet’s favorite leather items

Resources:

Leather Working Group  

Pennyroyal Designs

Savory Institute

Modal fabric

Poshmark

Thredup

Rent the Runway

Leatherworking group on Reddit

Leatherworker.net

Connect with [Guest]:

Website: Farrier Leather

Instagram: @farrier_leather

Facebook: Farrier Leather

Twitter: @Farrier_Leather

Pinterest: Farrier Leather 

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Episode Credits:

Thank you to all who’ve made this show possible. Our hosts are Diana Rodgers, Lauren Manning, and James Connolly. Our producer is Meg Chatham, and our editor is Emily Soape. And of course, we are grateful for our sponsors, Patreon supporters, and listeners.