Hermes isn't following Apple's lead, releases new array of leather Apple Watch bands

AppleInsider

Hermes has stopped making leather Apple Watch bands for Apple, but instead has now launched a bunch of them on its own site.

One of very many new leather Apple Watch bands being sold by Hermes

Before it was even confirmed that Apple would ditch leather, it was rumored, then it was spotted that Hermes had pulled all of its Apple Watch bands from its own store. It did not last.

Following Apple's Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 launch, Hermes restocked its store with a slew of new bands. The company is selling 47 varieties of band, either separately or with an Apple Watch Series 9.

More than 20 of the new Hermes Apple Watch bands are leather, or what the company describes as various forms of "calfskin." The rest are knitted nylon, or rubber.

Prices for leather straps on their range from $379 to $599. The non-leather straps start at $349.

"Leather is a popular material for accessories," Apple's Lisa Jackson said at the Apple Watch Series 9 launch, "but it has a significant carbon footprint, especially at Apple scale."

"To reduce our impact we will no longer use leather in any new Apple product," she continued, "including watchbands and that starts today."

Read on AppleInsider

fumi

Asking Hermes to stop making leather goods would be like asking Apple to stop making consumer electronics.

Xed

Apple shouldn't stop them (and wouldn't), but they should sell them at their online or B&M stores to show good faith.

ihatescreennames

I may be wrong but I thought Apple mentioned they are selling bands made of rubber. Is the carbon footprint to produce bands made of rubber significantly less than producing bands made from leather?

jdonAI

Good for Hermes = this is getting to be ridiculous . . .

sbdude

Good for them. I'm not sure how using a byproduct of an existing and entrenched industry is somehow less sustainable than crafting new bands from petroleum products, but I'm just an engineer. All part of the narrative, I suppose. For instance, Ben Lovejoy over at 9to5's profound and prophetic headline how "Apple dropping leather could help end the premium image of the material". LVMH begs to differ.

9secondkox2

Great! Leather is a natural byproduct of other industries that aren’t going anywhere. Somehow tanning (which uses natural ore salts and vegetable derivatives) and dead animal skin is hurting the atmosphere more than…rubber, which may be better than plastic, but clearly inferior to leather in terms of carbon footprint and biodegrade ability (not a word about whether Apples bands are made of synthetic vs natural rubber or a composite). 

danox

Hermes gets to sale direct like Booq or Waterfield designs, very good for them why is that a problem?

Xed

I meant to write “shouldn’t” in my previous post. 🤦‍♂️ I hate that 4 hour edit window.

Alex_V

There is no doubt that humans continue to do incalculable damage to the natural world. Environmental sustainability is humanity’s greatest challenge, it simply means: “only do those things that do no harm (in the long run) to the biosphere, humans etc.” There is no alternative. Climate change is merely one challenge. Other problems are loss of biodiversity (megafauna population collapse etc.) and losing the benefits of ecosystems (breathing forest air etc.), land degradation (loss of topsoil and nutrients) and all forms of pollution, over-consumption and related justice issues, etc. The intensive cattle industry is only one part of the problem — it is implicated in relentless deforestation, methane production, pollution of waterways, overuse of antibiotics, not to mention the horrifying conditions and appalling treatment of the animals themselves. Leather contributes a big part of the profits of the cattle industry. It is wrong to call it a mere by-product.

danox

Alex_V said:

There is no doubt that humans continue to do incalculable damage to the natural world. Environmental sustainability is humanity’s greatest challenge, it simply means: “only do those things that do no harm (in the long run) to the biosphere, humans etc.” There is no alternative. Climate change is merely one challenge. Other problems are loss of biodiversity (megafauna population collapse etc.) and losing the benefits of ecosystems (breathing forest air etc.), land degradation (loss of topsoil and nutrients) and all forms of pollution, over-consumption and related justice issues, etc. The intensive cattle industry is only one part of the problem — it is implicated in relentless deforestation, methane production, pollution of waterways, overuse of antibiotics, not to mention the horrifying conditions and appalling treatment of the animals themselves. Leather contributes a big part of the profits of the cattle industry. It is wrong to call it a mere by-product.

The Bull has left the barn and is down the road, it is too late……. 

Man will kill off Lake IIiamna (the largest Salmon fishery in the world) it’s inevitable.

Alex_V

danox said:

The Bull has left the barn and is down the road, it is too late……. 

Man will kill off Lake IIiamna (the largest Salmon fishery in the world) it’s inevitable.

I don’t know, dude… 

It’s easy to get despondent, but the stakes are too high. All of us are implicated, all have a role and responsibility for what happens next. Our job is to face the facts and cut through the sh*t. Because right now we are in an information sh*t-storm. 

jbdragon

jdonAI said:

Good for Hermes = this is getting to be ridiculous . . .

Leather is a renewable resource.  So long as people eat meat, we'll continue to have more cows, and leather from those cows.

Alex_V

jbdragon said:

jdonAI said:

Good for Hermes = this is getting to be ridiculous . . .

Leather is a renewable resource.  So long as people eat meat, we'll continue to have more cows, and leather from those cows.

A few tribes banging around in their respective jungles, hunting and gathering, aren’t going to upset anything. But today humans and their livestock account for 96% of the biomass of mammals on earth. It ain’t sustainable.