**TL;DR – While fur, leather, and meat all result in animal cruelty and death as well as significant adverse effects on the environment, fur and leather have more utility and worse alternatives than meat** While the utility that comes from the consumer's personal enjoyment of fur, leather, and meat is difficult to quantify, it is clear that a pair of leather shoes has a longer-lasting impact than a steak dinner. Even if we assume that fur, leather, and meat offer the same level of personal enjoyment, these industries have different effects on animals and on the environment. At a baseline, we must recognize that fur, leather, and meat production are all awful for the environment and for animals (there are always certain exceptions, but a meaningful analysis must, instead, focus on industry norms and broader impacts). Meat and leather are typically [produced together](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/27/ethicalfashion.leather) and thus have comparable effects on animal wellbeing. Fur is typically produced separately and often critiqued for being wasteful though, ultimately, the animals undergo similarly inhumane treatment and are then killed. Alternatives like pleather and faux fur [aren't exactly ethically sound](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/faux-fur-vs-real-fur_n_5bc0b3c3e4b0bd9ed5599f76); they are typically made of plastic, terrible for the environment, and significantly less durable than their real counterparts. Although it has no _direct_ element of animal cruelty (any contribution to climate change is, in fact, harmful to animals but certainly less direct), faux fur's environmental footprint may actually be [quantifiably worse](http://www.fureurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/LCA_-final-report.pdf) than real fur's. Alternatives to meat like tofu, seitan, tempeh, and the extremely wide range of veggie burgers, sausages, and the like are almost universally better for [the environment _and_ for your health](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fake-meat-better-you-or-environment-n1065231) than real meat—these direct alternatives to meat, along with nutritional substitutes like pulses more broadly, are globally available and inexpensive. Regardless of the viscerally negative association people have with fur or the necessity people see in meat (seemingly, the ethics and utility of leather are the most ignored out of this trio), they are all ethically dubious. They can be differentiated by their industries' respective effects on animals and the environment and compared to their individual alternatives. Through this cost-benefit analysis, in my eyes, meat comes out as the worst.

**TL;DR: There are ways to make buying fur and leather more ethical.** Whilst buying fur and leather and eating meat are both unethical practices, I do think there is room to make wearing fur _slightly more_ ethical than eating meat. Writer [Melissa Kwasny] (https://qz.com/quartzy/1543323/the-ethical-case-for-wearing-leather-fur-and-silk/) studies the 'economics of clothing manufacturing, the traditions of crafting, and the environmental and moral impact of the choices that consumers make' in her book _Putting on the Dog: The Animal Origins of What We Wear_. From her research, she concluded that sustainably sourcing clothing from plants and animals is actually more sustainable than synthetic products. Synthetic textiles are responsible for the pollution of waterways, soils and air. The majority of synthetic textiles are not biodegradable, whereas animal textiles are, making them great in theory, but not sustainable long-term. Add this to the issue of overconsumption nowadays. As a society, we are told we need to buy the latest trends, and fast-fashion retailers capitalize on this need through selling cheap, poorly manufactured items which will usually end up in a landfill in the next 5 years. In general, I don't tend to buy genuine leather or real fur, but when I do, it's always second hand. I think this is a great way to make fur and leather more ethical because you aren't contributing directly to the issue by providing large companies with money for the slaughter of animals, but you're stopping these garments from going to a landfill. That way, you give money to a seller who needs the sale, and you get a good quality product that you can reuse forever!