Why does vegan tag bag better profits?

India’s pavement vendors who hawk synthetic leather bags — called pleather, leatherette, rexine or plain plastic — should realise they are on the cutting edge of woke fashion now.

They may figure something is up when those usually seen frequenting luxury stores or trendy boutiques suddenly evince interest in their faux wares, now that they have been upscaled and rebranded as ‘vegan leather’.

If a vegan handbag is deemed good enough to be a 38th birthday present for the Duchess of Cambridge last week, its entrée into modish circles worldwide is a foregone conclusion.

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Thank you everyone for all your lovely messages on The Duchess of Cambridge’s birthday! Photo 📷 by @MattPorteous

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Our humble roadside vendors should, therefore, quickly reinvent themselves as eco-sensitive — sans energy-guzzling overheads — accessory start-ups, and ignore niggling questions about how exactly the buzzword ‘vegan’ or absence of dairy products is germane to the manufacture of handbags and other reticules.

That no animals are killed to produce artificial leather goods — polyurethane, pineapple fibre and other coriaceous but non-skin materials being the preferred components — should have made such vegan (i.e., non-leather) wares a must-have long ago.


Of course, this new cachet for sidewalk maroquinerie will represent a fresh challenge for luxury brands that are used to offering accessories made with rare animal skins to attract deep-pocketed fashionistas.