REcycling VS UPcycling

For some time now we have been hearing a lot about recycled leather from many brands, but this term is not appropriate because they do like me : upcycling .
Let us understand the difference which is significant.

Manufacturing of recycled leather

Recycled leather is obtained from leather scraps . The small pieces are crushed and reconditioned to obtain a new material. The process is similar to that of paper manufacturing, but with other fibers and other binders. This is the technique that is considered recycling because it consists of recovering material from several products to create a new material.

At the moment there is only one type of material based on recycled leather.

The term recycling is therefore misused by brands.
But we can still mention NAT & NIN for France, a pioneer in the large-scale manufacture of leather goods made from recycled leather.

has been offering a material made from recycled leather since 2017.

What are the benefits of recycled leather?

It helps to avoid waste and offers a nice appearance but cannot replace leather at all. Indeed, even if it is made from leather fibres it does not have any grain and therefore does not have the same long-term resistance properties. Moreover, without grain we cannot legally speak of leather.

Can we say " recycled leather"?

Normally, the term leather cannot be used if there is no natural grain*, as stated in the law in decree 2010-29 of January 8, 2010 implementing article L.214-1 of the consumer code:

"The use of the word "leather", as a principal word or as a root or as an adjective, whatever the language used, is prohibited in the designation of any material other than that obtained from animal skin by means of tanning or impregnation which preserves the natural shape of the skin fibres."

What is upcycling?

Conversely, UPCYCLING means avoiding the destruction of items by reusing them, encouraging the reduction of waste by recovering them and preventing the unnecessary stock of raw materials and waste.