Soiled Fashion: Environmental Effects of Leather Production on Soil Health

The fashion industry is quickly becoming one of the world’s largest industries as well as one of the world’s biggest polluters. The rise of fast fashion, a business model that designs and mass-produces cheap clothes, has led to an increase in material waste and environmental pollution. Most of the existing literature is focused on the environmental effects of air and water pollutants. Although soils are another valuable environmental resource that is heavily impacted by clothing production, they are rarely thought of in the context of environmental protection. This paper seeks to review the literature on how the production of leather leads to environmental damage at each stage of the leather cycle. The paper will review literature on the agricultural effects of crop production, the waste materials associated with industrial processes, and the disposal of leather products. Economic quantification methods such as life-cycle analysis will also be reviewed. Finally, suggestions for future research incorporating shadow pricing into economic quantifications and other areas in need of research are proposed