this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
1142 points (98.1% liked)

You Should Know

33237 readers
315 users here now

YSK - for all the things that can make your life easier!

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with YSK.

All posts must begin with YSK. If you're a Mastodon user, then include YSK after @youshouldknow. This is a community to share tips and tricks that will help you improve your life.



Rule 2- Your post body text must include the reason "Why" YSK:

**In your post's text body, you must include the reason "Why" YSK: It’s helpful for readability, and informs readers about the importance of the content. **



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-YSK posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-YSK posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

If you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- The majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities:

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

Credits

Our icon(masterpiece) was made by @clen15!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Why YSK: The term "Genuine Leather" is a marketing term to sell the lowest quality leather possible.

When purchasing a leather product, look for full grain leather or top grain leather instead. These will provide a much higher quality cut of leather that will look and feel much better and last for much longer.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] derf82 74 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Not quite. The truth is, there is no universally recognized grades of leather. But when bragging about quality, genuine leather is the lowest bar they can go (other than bonded leather, which isn’t fully leather but just a veneer over fabric.

Full grain or top grain is generally what you want.

https://lifehacker.com/what-genuine-leather-really-means-1850309049

Also, some are concerned about the use of an animal product. The vast majority of leather is a byproduct of the beef industry. It is skin that would otherwise go to waste. And it is also far more environmentally friendly a material than many alternatives, which are often made of plastics.

[–] MargotRobbie 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, honestly you should buy leather products based on brands than on description of "genuine" leather.

And agree, real leather is a much better alternative to the ridiculous amount of micro-plastic synthetic leather generates, especially since it'll last you decades if you maintain it well.

[–] bulbasaur 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Leather made from animal flesh is far worse for the planet than pleather, but if you're really worried, you could just forgo both

https://twitter.com/jan_dutkiewicz/status/1645867376381169665?t=w7mjq-VuWZB6TAudzs7A9g&s=19

[–] Roli_Poli 6 points 1 year ago

I think this is a good point and well sourced; however, it doesn’t take into account the longevity of the product, which is also important. Best practice is probably to thrift existing leather products since we already have so much material in circulation.

[–] queermunist 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's the industry recapturing some of its costs by reducing waste. That's still supporting the industry.

[–] derf82 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We applauded Native Americans for using every part of the animal, yet when we do it today somehow it’s a bad thing.

The skins are there rather you like the industry or not. Better to use them than throw them in a landfill.

[–] bulbasaur 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] derf82 2 points 1 year ago

It’s a byproduct, an activist tweeter notwithstanding. Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of beef. (Source: https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/july/brazil-once-again-becomes-the-world-s-largest-beef-exporter/ )

Just because America has more of a need for Brazilian leather than their beef does not mean it isn’t a byproduct.

A byproduct is defined as “something produced in a usually industrial or biological process in addition to the principal product.” The principle product is beef.

Also, the claim that leather isn’t biodegradable is misleading at best. Leather still breaks down, and it does do far faster than plastic alternatives and without shedding microplastics. https://ecocult.com/leather-may-be-natural-but-is-it-biodegradable/