Pannus Corium to Pleather: The Origins of Non-Leather Footwear Part 2

By the 1880’s vegetarians were writing to periodicals like the Dietetic Reformer sharing their successes in finding non-leather boots.

A Triumph In Boots. — I have obtained a most serviceable and comfortable pair of boots, made entirely without leather, at Messrs. Bond and Son’s, Bridgewater. They are neat in appearance, and, unless attention is called to them, no one would observe from their appearance that they are different from ordinary boots. They are far more comfortable than shoes made from leather, and they are waterproof. I consider this a perfect triumph. (p.50)

Another vegetarian in the same issue of the Dietetic Reformer shared their success at finding vegetarian boots, while emphasizing their ethical reasoning for avoiding leather.

Another Triumph In Boots. — How can Vegetarians, with any measure of consistency, denounce the slaughter-house while they partake of its spoils? How can they rebuke the cruel trade while they share its results with carnivorous human beings, who use the dead flesh and skins, while Vegetarians use the skins only? For my own part, my sympathy is with Dr. Anna Kingsford and such Vegetarians as object to animal leather in any shape or form. Boots of animal leather can be done without; and it is a matter of surprise to me that “Vegetarian boots” are not in greater demand, seeing the Messrs. Godfrey, Hall, and Co., 89, Regent Street, London, can supply such boots to order. I have recently obtained boots from the Messrs. Hall, which have given me great satisfaction: they are most comfortable, much more so than boots of animal leather. They are waterproof, stitched like boots of ordinary leather, and the soles are repairable, which last is an advantage of gutta-percha soles. (p.82)

The 1884 edition of the Dietetic Reformer also published an article promoting non-leather boots to vegetarians.

VEGETARIAN BOOTS — These articles are now within the reach of all who desire to throw off the remaining excuse for the use of animal’s skins as leather. Messrs. G. Bond and Son, of Bridgewater, have succeeded in manufacturing substantial and neat-looking boots with materials from the vegetable kingdom only. I have secured a pair and heartily advise members of Society to order for themselves. The price does not exceed that of an ordinary walking boot, and altogether the invention is deserving of rapid and immense success. (p.20)

Innovation in leather substitutes continued during this decade and into the 1890s. The Dietetic Reformer reported on a new formulation of leather cloth that incorporated gutta percha with mineral pigments.

Artificial Leather. — Mr. H. Smith Chase, of Boston, U.S.A., has patented a process and apparatus for manufacturing artificial leather. Gutta-percha is dissolved in naphtha in a vessel which is provided with agitators. To the solution zinc white or another mineral body is added. The mass is then removed to a mixing apparatus in which it is well worked together. This mass is spread over paper or cloth in an apparatus consisting of several rollers over which the cloth passes. The apparatus is also provided with hot-air rolls in order to dry the tissue before rolling up. The operation of spreading the mass over the paper or tissue can be repeated several times. (p.72)

Leather manufacturers were also taking notice of these innovations. An 1885 edition of The Art of Leather Manufacture devoted a small section of the volume to “vegetable leather”, the material the book described as linen coated with rubber. Even the manufacturers of genuine leather were impressed with this leather alternative, describing the advantages of the material.

Amongst other advantages, it possesses over leather proper may be mention that however thin the imitation is, it will not tear without considerable force is exercised, that it resists all damp, and that moisture may be left upon it without injury, consequently it does not sodden or cockle, is always dry, and its polish is rather increased by fiction. Add to these facts, that any attempt to scratch or raise the surface with the nail, or by contact with any ordinary substance, will not abraid […] We believe that the largest entire piece of real leather that can be cut from a bullock’s hide is not more than seven feet by five feet, and this includes the stomach and other inferior parts. Vegetable leather, on the contrary, is now produced 50 yards in length and 1 ½ yards wide, every portion being of equal and of any required thickness, and the smallest portion is convertible. We were agreeably disappointed, however, to find that instead of vegetable leather being a discovery requiring the aid of ourselves and our contemporaries, it was, although so young, an active agent in the fabrication of numerous articles of daily requirements, and that it had, abroad, become the subject of large, indeed we may say enormous contracts. Caoutchouc and naphtha are used in its manufacture; but by a process known to the senior of the firm, who is himself an accomplished chemist, all odour is removed from the naphtha, and the smell of vegetable leather is rendered thereby less in strength, if anything than that of leather. The principal object to which it is at present applied, although it is obvious it will take a wider range of usefulness than leather itself […] while in the all-important commercial view, it is but one-third the price of leather. (p.272–273)

Anna Kingsford wrote about vegetable leather made from waste cotton fibers pressed into sheets that are then coated with seaweed in her pro vegetarian book The Perfect Way in Diet.

Vegetarians in the past looked to history for inspiration for leather alternatives. An 1896 issue of Good Health shared an archaeological discovery of ancient Egyptian boots made from a variety of non-leather materials including palm leaves, papyrus, hemp and other vegetable fibers.

Paper pulp combined with drying oils created a waterproof material that could also be used to make shoes. An 1885 issue of the trade journal The American Bookseller declared that they were living in a “paper age”, listing all of the everyday products that could be manufactured from paper goods, including shoes. Japanese “leather” paper was imported for bookbinding and to use as wall decor, it is possible that vegetarians may have considered this material for creating non-leather shoes and boots. An 1896 article in the Argonaut describes the variety of materials available to create vegetarian-friendly boots, including paper.

Vegetarian boots are advertised in London; the uppers are made of pannus corium, the soles of closely water-proofed flax belting. To show that the skins of slaughtered animals are not necessary, the vegetarians say “india-rubber, gutta-percha, steel, and iron, and brass nails and brass caps, cashmere and cotton, elastic and webbing, wool and list, cork and straw, silk and jute, and even brown paper and wax go to form the modern mystery which still carries the old name of boot or shoe.” (p.14)

Pannus corium shoes and boots were also still available at the end of the 19th century. New styles in an improved version of the original form of pannus corium are mentioned in the 1890s advertisement below.

Vegetarians wearing non-leather boots was widely known enough that even an 1897 issue of the Victorian humor magazine Punch included the quip in response to reports of the sale of vegetarian boots: “Of course these feet coverings will be grown on boot-trees.” (p.179)

The 20th century would bring more innovations and alternatives, as well as non-leather shoes marketed directly to vegetarian consumers.

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Next Week: Pannus Corium to Pleather: The Origins of Non-Leather Footwear Part 3