Francis Tsang of the ChromeFree Leather Alliance writes that The Chinese leather industry has no problem with competitive materials as long as they are correctly named. Calling a vegan material leather is a deliberate act to mislead the Chinese consumer and has to be condemned. That is why it is expressly illegal in so many countries and why leather has always won consumer court cases even where the legislation is not precise. It is improper to mislead the consumer.

Leather articles have features such as durability, repairability, reuse, patina, touch, smell and feel which are specific which a consumer is deprived of by being tricked into plastics or bio-based materials.