Humans of Bombay founder Karishma Mehta pledges to go ‘leather-free’ from 2025, encouraging her 594 million Instagram followers to reduce their consumption of animal products and embrace a more sustainable lifestyle We encourage you to do so.
Mehta shared an emotional post on her Instagram, announcing her decision to sell all her luxury leather goods. She accompanied the post with a photo of herself posing with an array of luxury shoes and bags from luxury brands such as Gucci, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), Louis Vuitton and Fendi.
In a heartfelt note, Mehta recalled how she once aspired to own a “dream bag” or “dream shoes” that symbolized her “big dreams” as a child. However, she recently realized that materialism is rooted in “fundamentally flawed assumptions.” As a result, she decided to stop buying luxury leather goods, sell her existing collection and donate the proceeds to animal protection NGOs.
Explaining the reason, she wrote, “As a vegetarian, I don’t eat meat because it’s not appropriate for me to eat living things. Why is it appropriate for me?” Is it a “luxury” to place value on skinning animals? ”
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She ended her post with a touching message. “I hope this small act opens your eyes to that. Think about still dreaming and conquering your biggest dreams relentlessly, but with heart and kindness. Take it and do it. Here’s to a kinder 2025 and a leather-free life. :)”
Karishma Mehta founded the Humans of Bombay Facebook page in 2014, inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York. Over time, the platform’s popularity grew nationwide, and by 2021, it had amassed millions of followers on Facebook and Instagram. In 2022, she started a YouTube interview series titled “How The Hell Did I Do It?”
