Leather clothes are investment pieces, says Coach designer
Leather’s credentials as an example of upcycling received a, perhaps, unexpected boost from the runway shows at the February edition of New York Fashion Week.
Writing in the The New York Times, fashion editor, Vanessa Friedman, said: “It was easy to see the plethora of leather, leather culottes, leather shirts, leather coats and fuzzy, collaged shearling at Coach.”
She recounted that Coach’s head designer, Stuart Vevers, had spoken enthusiastically backstage about this expansive use of leather, telling fashion writers and influencers that the material is a by-product of the meat industry.
He said leather garments can also lay claim to being sustainable because they last. In the face of the problem of garments going to waste, he pointed out that consumers tend to keep clothes made from leather and that these products become more beautiful with age. Mr Vevers, who formerly worked at Mulberry and Loewe, said this means leather garments qualify as “investment pieces”.
