Although leather by itself is a beautiful material and sustainable in the sense that it’s so strong and contemporary, unfortunately the conventional leather industry is far from eco-, people- and animal friendly.

Eco leather has been treated without the use of harmful chemicals like chromium IV, PCP and AZO dyes. Instead the leather is organically tanned. This is a cleaner and safer tanning process and reduces the carbon footprint. Eco friendly tanneries only use natural materials to cure, preserve and tan leather, these are all natural biodegradable tanning materials such as bark tannins, plant tannins, lime or smoke which allows them to keep the process 100% environmentally friendly. The natural tanning process takes any where form 5 weeks to 12 months (regular chrome tanning takes less than a week). It is still hard to find people willing to put in the time and effort to do this, but the numbers are growing and organic leather is become more known under the consumers. 

 

Organic Leather is leather that comes from organically raised cows, raised on open pasture lands( with organic feed when necessary in the winter months.) Thanning happens by the use of Oak bark or vegetable tannins to perserve the leather and natural oils (from fish/animals or bees wax's) to finish it. Most organic farms are based in the US and the UK. 

 

The other option is working with recylced leather...

 

sources: http://www.organicleather.com/our-organic-leather-and-eco-leather

https://oecotextiles.wordpress.com/tag/organic-leather/