Bader MD sows seeds of confidence in leather
The managing director of Bader Leather’s plant in Michigan, Fernando Caccia, has delivered a forceful rebuttal of arguments against leather’s use in automotive.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the AutoTech: Detroit conference at the end of June, Mr Caccia said that some consumers harbour the misguided belief that if they buy a car with a leather interior they will contribute to animal cruelty.
“We are living in an era of misinformation,” Mr Caccia said. “Leather is a sustainable by-product of meat, and about 33 million head of cattle are processed for beef annually in the US. But no animals are killed because of leather.
He said there is a choice between burning or landfilling the 33 million hides accruing from beef production on the one hand, or turning them into one of the oldest, most sophisticated and most versatile materials known to humankind on the other.
To emphasise that leather is a sustainable, recyclable product that can biodegrade at the end of a finished product’s life, he gave members of the audience a gift of a plant pot made from leather scraps. He invited the people present to put soil and seeds in the pots and plant them directly into the ground. “They are completely biodegradable,” he said.
Image shows the interior of the 2023 XT6 luxury midsize SUV from Cadillac, part of General Motors, which named Bader as one of the winners in its Supplier of the Year competition in 2021.
