Luxe, other brands take faux leather to new level of high style

Macy’s has increased its assortment of vegan leather products, said Caprice Willard, regional vice president of women’s apparel for the department store chain. Sales have grown in recent years, especially among fashion-forward Californians who can wear leather year-round and are drawn to new formulations that are supple and soft, she said.

“We had very few options maybe five years ago,” Willard said. “The appetite has always been there. We are just doing a much better job of meeting it.”

Demand is very strong among millennial shoppers. They are more eco-conscious but also have been raised on fast fashion in which style trumps durability, analysts said. The popularity of real leather leggings and trims has spurred interest in affordable mimics.

Fake leather is still usually made by coating plastic on fabric. But as textile technology has evolved, mills can churn out materials that look and feel like close kin of the real thing but with a greater array of colors and patterns.

At the same time, more Americans are turning to veganism or vegetarianism — about 30 million adults, or one-eighth of the population older than 18, according to the Humane Research Council. Two-thirds of vegans or vegetarians say protecting animals is a big motivator for their diets — a stance that is seeping beyond the supermarket.

“People are seeing themselves more as conscientious,” said Leanne Hilgart, founder of Vaute Couture. “After food is fashion.”

Hilgart made headlines in 2013 as the first all-vegan fashion designer to show at New York Fashion Week. Vaute (a mash-up of “vegan” and “haute”) specializes in stylish outerwear free of leather, wool and all other animal products. One coat, which boasts recycled fibers and “arctic explorer” insulation, costs $580.

The target customer is any trendy woman who would drop serious cash on a coat at Bloomingdale’s, Hilgart said. Sales grew 60 percent last year compared with 2013, and plans are underway to open stores in Manhattan and Toronto this year.

The wealth of new options is a relief to Sarah Robles, 23, a “pescetarian” who eats seafood but not meat. Robles said she tries to avoid leather out of concern for animal welfare. Plus, faux leather options tend to be cheaper and require less maintenance, the West Hollywood actress said.

“Fake leather stuff is getting better and better,” she said. “It used to be just ugly knockoffs, but now I have so many cute shoes and bags, and they last longer than my real leather stuff.”

Retailers say it still takes work to lure shoppers who associate faux leather with the poor quality and pleather eyesores of decades past.

“We have all had the mindset that it looks fake and shiny and doesn’t feel good,” said Ana Hartl, managing director of creative at Free People, part of Urban Outfitters Inc. “I remember the days of ’90s plasticky polyurethane pleathers.”

A few years back, Hartl said, she began noticing that some high-quality faux fabrics were virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

Free People has more than doubled its vegan offerings since debuting its first collection in 2011. In the last two years it has launched vegan shoes and handbags. Vegan sales have surpassed leather in some categories, including jackets and vests.

Vegan leather has been a hit for Sole Society, a Los Angeles retailer known for affordable fashions.

Sole Society introduced vegan leather handbags a year ago, which proved popular with shoppers, Chief Executive Andy Solomon said. Now about half of its handbags are made of vegan leather. Sole Society hopes to increase that to 65 percent this year and is also looking into vegan shoes.

With the term “vegan leather,” manufacturers and retailers have tried to piggyback off the image of well-heeled shoppers who browse farmer’s markets and Whole Foods.

Christina Sewell, a fashion coordinator at the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said consumers tend to “identify vegans with a little bit higher class of people who really care about the environment and animals.”

“We want to show that being cruelty free doesn’t mean wearing a hemp bag over your head,” Sewell said. “What better term to use than vegan? Unlike faux leather, which sounds kinds of cheap.”

PETA hosted a pop-up event with 20 vegan designers in August at its Echo Park offices. It drew hundreds of shoppers, and Sewell says the organization is hoping to turn it in to an annual shopping event.