William Gallagher
Hermes has stopped making leather Apple Watch bands for Apple, but instead has now launched a bunch of them on its own site.
Before it was even confirmed that Apple would ditch leather, it was rumored, then it was spotted that Hermes had pulled all of its Apple Watch bands from its own store. It did not last.
Following Apple's Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 launch, Hermes restocked its store with a slew of new bands. The company is selling 47 varieties of band, either separately or with an Apple Watch Series 9.
More than 20 of the new Hermes Apple Watch bands are leather, or what the company describes as various forms of "calfskin." The rest are knitted nylon, or rubber.
Prices for leather straps on their range from $379 to $599. The non-leather straps start at $349.
"Leather is a popular material for accessories," Apple's Lisa Jackson said at the Apple Watch Series 9 launch, "but it has a significant carbon footprint, especially at Apple scale."
"To reduce our impact we will no longer use leather in any new Apple product," she continued, "including watchbands and that starts today."
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13 Comments
Asking Hermes to stop making leather goods would be like asking Apple to stop making consumer electronics.
Apple shouldn't stop them (and wouldn't), but they should sell them at their online or B&M stores to show good faith.
I may be wrong but I thought Apple mentioned they are selling bands made of rubber. Is the carbon footprint to produce bands made of rubber significantly less than producing bands made from leather?
Good for Hermes = this is getting to be ridiculous . . .
Good for them. I'm not sure how using a byproduct of an existing and entrenched industry is somehow less sustainable than crafting new bands from petroleum products, but I'm just an engineer. All part of the narrative, I suppose. For instance, Ben Lovejoy over at 9to5's profound and prophetic headline how "Apple dropping leather could help end the premium image of the material". LVMH begs to differ.