Episode 1: Farming

Episode 2: Fashion

Episode 3: Food

Episode 3: Our Future

Leather’s impact on the environment: Good or bad? And is it that simple?

Here to provide some balance in the ongoing debate about the use of our land, fast fashion, and our future – Rewind is a new documentary series that sets out to bust some myths and ask some questions.

Courtesy of The Wine Show and Blue Juice’s award-winning Director Carl Prechezer and funded by Real Leather. Stay Different., it makes the case for using leather as a sustainable by-product of the meat and dairy industries – and as a way to break the fast fashion cycle. 

The message is simple. By ‘Rewinding’, looking back at how we used to manage the land and use its outputs, we can begin to reverse the damage caused to our soils through intensive farming and provide a natural alternative to the synthetic materials and faux leathers that are plastic based and polluting our planet.

In four five-minute episodes, Farming, Fashion, Food and the Future, Rewind captures the thoughts of chefs and tanners, scientists and fashion editors, NGOs, and environmental auditors – and draws on some surprising data and research from a range of sources as diverse as The United Nations and BP. The result is an interesting mix of hard data and personal perspectives that challenges the current vogue on what we should eat or wear, and what our choices mean for our planet. We can’t rewind history, but we can shape our future.

Each episode examines a different area. The first installment looks at farming. Although leather is a by-product of the meat and dairy industries, to the consumer its production is inextricably linked to agriculture. We examine the best uses of land, the real effects of cattle’s methane emissions and the environmental consequences of not using cowhide.

Episode two, ‘Fashion’, looks at the perils of fast fashion and the environmental costs of the production of plastic-based fabrics, and how extending the life of clothes and accessories is a positive step on the road to greenhouse gas reduction.

The third episode, ‘Food’ examines the task of feeding the ever-expanding world population while tackling global warming, arguing that regenerative farming and local supply, supported by the best use of land, can meet these challenges.

In conclusion, episode four, ‘Our Future’, ties the themes of the other episodes together. It looks at the dangers of fossil fuel use refocusing from power and transportation to plastic production and offers a vision of the future where practices from the past, including sensitive farming and the best use of materials, can combine to help feed and clothe the world in a truly sustainable way.

The takeaway: Leather, and other natural fabrics have a critical role to play in a sustainable fashion future – which means weaning the industry of its reliance on fossil fuels. And the farming industry, which supplies the materials and fabrics, must be run efficiently and sustainably if we are to not only clothe, but feed, the planet.

Episodes 2-4 will be released once a week for public viewing, starting from Thursday 20th October 2022 at 6pm GMT via chooserealleather.com and the Real Leather. Stay Different. YouTube channel.

For further information, please feel free to contact: greg@gtandi.co.uk

ABOUT REAL LEATHER. STAY DIFFERENT.
Real Leather. Stay Different. is a global campaign that has reached some 750 million people and hundreds of thousands of students. It makes the case for cattle leather (and other natural materials) and for making the best use of society’s waste and that hides, as the by-product of the dairy and meat industries, should be considered before looking to the petrochemical industries for manmade materials. Flexible and durable, leather is the natural alternative to fast fashion.