Apple Reportedly Stops Production of FineWoven Accessories - Slashdot

Posted by msmash

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  There's a reason that there is a saying that goes "Wears like leather." Leather is an excellent material to make durable stuff out of if it can't be made out of metal or needs some give.

  If you want something more environmentally friendly than cows, horse hide is even more durable than cow leather and can be produced from horses that die naturally, but people think that having things made out of horses is icky for some reason. If you see a pair of officer's boots in a museum that are 200 years old and look like new, they are probably horse hide.

  • Re:

    And hey, with regard to leather....it isn't like we're not going to be "harvesting" cows for food any time soon, so, using the hide for leather is just keeping from being wasteful and using the whole animal from nose to tail as the old saying goes.

    And well, it's an organic product too....cows are carbon based life units.

    So, hell, you're checking two boxes right there.

    And it isn't like anyone is forcing the vegans to buy a leather option that may be offered....

    So...why again did they do away with the lea

    • 1 hidden comment

    • Re:

      Virtue signalling to the vegan / greenie crowdz. Or, pandering.

      Pick one, or both, as both are equally plausible

  • Even fake leather is better

    There's a reason that there is a saying that goes "Wears like leather." Leather is an excellent material to make durable stuff out of if it can't be made out of metal or needs some give.

    Even if you can't bring yourself to use real leather from any animal (a waste Native Americans would chide you for given how much leather is produced as a bi-product from raising cattle for food), there are plenty go fake leathers that feel great and wear really well!

    The "fine woven" stuff was crazy bad. I upgraded my phone

    • Re:

      But it's not like the leather is going to be thrown away and Apple is pulling cowskin out of dumps. It's still going to be used, with or without Apple. Just, Apple driving up the demand for leather means cow ranchers get paid more, which means cows are more economical to raise, which means more cows get raised...and raising cows is bad for the environment.

  • Re:

    > horse hide is even more durable than cow leather and can be produced from horses that die naturally

    More people die naturally every year than horses? What's the durability of human leather?

    If it isn't durable surely we could recycle it into lamp shades or something else decorative.

• Full grain leather will last a long time. I still regularly wear a leather belt I've had since high school and will likely have until I die. It was more expensive than some shiny looking "genuine" leather products at the time, but any of those things that I've ever owned have been complete shit that's been lucky to last a year.
  
  I can see Apple not wanting to use actual quality leather because then they know they can't sell you a new band in a few years when you buy a new watch. People who think leather is bad for the environment fail to consider that it can last multiple lifetimes meanwhile failing to consider the multiple replacements that will be needed for crap imitation products or the low-grade pressed scraps that only qualifies as leather in a legal sense.

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    Plus, cows are a renewable resource. They operate off ordinary grass without any additional greenhouse gasses required, and turn it into leather and delicious steaks. Truly an environmental miracle.

    • Re:

      Cows are actually a significant global warming problem, they generate a lot of methane.

      But leather is a non-issue, it's a byproduct. Nobody raises cows just for leather.

      • Re:

        Being a natural part of the carbon cycle, cow methane wouldn't even be an issue if humanity wasn't also digging up and burning fossil fuels.

  • Re:

    Your Apple Watch will be obsolete in five years and perhaps the whole product category obsolete in twenty. It doesn't help much that a leather strap could last centuries.

  • "Genuine" lather is nothing like Full grain leather. It is more like "contains leather". It is processed a lot more than proper leather and often time just split leather with a coating of man made materials.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    To me this is very close to false advertising since 'genuine leather' is not much better than artificial leather.

    For belts I only buy full grain, since all the "genuine" ones get destroyed rather quickly.

    • This wording is what keeps the belt business going strong, if they only sold full grain leather the customer is very happy but won't be coming back unless they want to add another color or style.
      
      Most belts that have the 'genuine leather' stamped deeply into the underside of the belt seem to be ok. If it is printed or on a label of any kind it means that the material won't take the stamping imprint well so it probably isn't worth your time either.
      
      If it's reversible then it is not full grain anything. Real leather has a good face side and the rough underside with no need to fancy up the back with a glued up layer.
      
      I bought a reversible Dockers belt once, in one day worth of wear the glued on leather layer was already wrinkled and blistering. I guess they are ok for playing dress-up once or twice.

      • Re:

        I've found belts to be unreliable the last few years. Mostly it's the breaking of the buckle, not the "leather", but I've seen leather wearing out too. Which surprised me because I saw the words "genuine" and "leather" and assume it was old fashioned leather. But no, it isn't.

        It's like if they started calling particle board, genuine wood."

        I understand the economics that favor conspicuous consumption of short lived products (just witness Apple's short lived items). But customers are complicit also in accep

  • Re: Use actual quality leather

    That's quite a cynical take given there's no such thing as a FineWoven watch band.

    • Re:

      "Fine" being a word with so many meanings that it's nearly worthless. I have got very fine hair myself, which I hate, I'd rather have coarse hair. There are the fine cotton sheets that you have to be careful with in the wash. Fine Woven might have been a thing when weaving was done by hand, but with machines you can indeed make Fine Woven products with crappy fibers and end up with Fine Woven Crap.

  • Re:

    The problem with leather is it's an animal product, and something that vegans and the ilk are strongly opposed against.

    That's the main reason Apple moved away from leather. It's also why Tesla offers an alternative to using leather in their steering wheels (this was back when Elon Musk actually cared about such things). (Start to see an overlap in customer base?)

    Plus, I'm sure, leather is out of the question in India for obvious reasons, and Apple is looking into moving manufacturing there.

    It's not that you

• There's always third party. Lots and lots of third party.

• ...my iphone se has a PU leatherette case that works and lasts just fine - it will outlive the phone easily...
• Which should you really choose? The one that has been in use since man started walking or the one that is pumped out of the ground (regardless of how much 'post consumer junk - including plastics' is in it) ?

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    "Pumped out of the ground" means the grass that the cows eat and transform into leather?

• planned obsolescence in cases now? Cant innovate my ass.