I have been doing hobby leatherwork for over 20 years. The crazy thing about people who don't want to use leather is that leather is a by-product of the meat industry. It is something that would have otherwise been thrown away, until there was a market developed for it. So if this kind of thing really did catch on, the hides that are now being used for leather might end up not getting used. If I think about this stuff too much it will just make my head spin.

Vegan leathers are a very different thing, and are full synthtics. I don't think they do a great job in having similar properties to real leather.