University report links fashion to farmland

OXFORD — The fashion industry influences 1.45 billion hectares of agricultural land - more than 30% of the global total - when leather and wool are included alongside textile crops, a University of Oxford review has found.

The study, produced by Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment with DIRT Charity, estimates that leather accounts for 876 million hectares and wool for 528.4 million hectares. The leather industry maintains it is a by-product of the meat industry.