How leather is sustainable, and how it's not.

If you’re reading this, you probably want to know how leather is produced and tanned, how much impact it has on our environment; how ethical it is vis-à-vis the workers involved in its making...
You basically want to know how sustainable it is and whether in our current eco-conscious era you should be consuming it.

First, you’re absolutely right about wanting to know all of this.
You should be curious, and even more than curious, you should have certain standards as a consumer on what you are buying, hence supporting. But to be honest the matter of sustainability isn’t black or white as one might think, or to be more accurate, things aren't just green or non-green. 

Each and every step of the life of a material has an impact on its sustainability: Extraction process, production, conditioning, packaging, shipping, using, recycling, disposing... 

When it comes to leather, it's a heavily criticized material. 
As much as the raw material itself (the skin) doesn’t actually need additional land and resources to make, being a byproduct from another industry (meat industry), the environmental impact of the conventional chrome based tanning is its most controversial aspect. But alternatives to chemical tanning do exist, such as the vegetable tanned leathers we use at Yurs. They're made of natural materials that are chrome-free and eco-friendly.

Another aspect in favor of leather's sustainability is its resistance. It's a uniquely long-lasting material, and one of the first ones humankind has known and produced. Even before anything close to machinery was known, humans were producing leather. It has stood the test of time and has reached us today proofing itself to be one of the most reliable materials we have. 
It has no integrated obsolescence feature. As a matter of fact, it has a way of aging gracefully and acquiring a patina without compromising its qualities. A leather good can last a lifetime without needing a functional replacement.

So we decided we wanted to use this material as it was. Robust yet malleable, long-lasting yet delicate. We created goods that don’t have buckles, glue, threads, fabric or any added material whatsoever. Because less materials, less global impact. So we thought the product through with one and only one component and it turns out all the solutions were provided by the hide itself and the way it is designed. 
The matter of fact is that being responsible and sustainable today is actually as much related to how we consume than to what it is that we consume. Buying less but better is a very healthy and sustainable approach to consumerism and we decided to apply it starting with our own products.

In that sense, Yurs leather goods are essential and optimal in every possible way. They're made of leather. Period.