DENVER — There is an event at the National Western Stock Show that wants to change how you think about the cattle industry in relation to fashion.
Denver7 met with Jordan Kraft Lambert with Colorado State University on the stock show grounds. She helped organize a fashion show this year called Future Cowboy coming up on January 25. It will feature both professional designers as well as designs by CSU students.
One thing Lambert said a lot of people don't think about is the environmental benefit of wearing leather.
"When we take those animals to be harvested, if we don't use the hide, it won't become leather, and if we don't use the hide, it ends up in a landfill," Lambert said. "It actually emits greenhouse gas emissions. So, if we can take that hide and turn it into leather, it becomes one of the most durable, cleanable, breathable and biodegradable materials of its kind."
Lambert said in 2020, about 4.8 million hides rotted in landfills in the U.S.
She hopes to be part of changing that by sharing new technology, that in particular, would help out smaller and mid-sized producers at the stock show.
"I really think that that's part of honoring our animal is making sure that we're using every aspect of it," Lambert said. "So even our ranchers don't often think of them being involved in the beef fashion supply chain, which they certainly are. They certainly are.
So they can realistically use all parts of the animal."
Some of the biggest challenges is the cost of doing this, especially for smaller ranchers, and then the cost of buying leather items for the individual person.
On the flip side, there are studies from Oxford University focusing on how more plant-based diets can have big environmental impacts as well.
