Plant Based Leather You Need to Know About
Due to consumer concerns for animals, workers and the environment, leather is becoming a questionable investment. Plus, dead are the days of penetrating the earth for oil-based plastics to create faux leather. What’s hot right now is the ‘waste is a design flaw’ concept. Innovators are discovering revolutionary possibilities of waste from plant based agriculture. I’ve forked through the brands who connect people, ecology and economics to create a vibrant new industry that is both socially and environmentally responsible.
Due to the large amount of pineapple leaves that are wasted during the harvesting season, Piñatex started out as a by-product to pineapple farming in the Philippines. The leaves are collected to create an innovative natural textile, which can be used in bags, shoes and clothing. The production has a low environmental impact because no extra land, water, fertilizers, or pesticides are required. Also it provides an extra income for farmers with a zero-waste attitude, creating economic value for pineapple growers worldwide.
VEG (Vegan) and GEA (Mother Earth) come together to identify the next generation of alternative materials. Their process consists of vegetable raw materials, recycled materials and bio-based polymers. Their wine leather is super exciting, which uses wine waste: grape marc, that is composed of grape skins, stalks and seeds discarded during wine production. Big names such as H&M are teaming up with Vegea to make more conscious collections.
From a forward thinking approach on waste, Malai was born from Southern India. The word refers to the creamy flesh of a coconut and is the coconut water (a by-product from the harvesting of this flesh) that sustains the bacteria whilst they’re producing the cellulose. This is collected and refined until it becomes the finished material: Malai. The material is good looking and PETA approved - we’re awaiting for its launch in a variety of products.
Who would have thought that you can create leather from cider production? There is no stopping these plant-based dreamers, who’re turning a part of the residue stream from the juice and cider production into a high quality material. Only using ingredients found in nature, this apple leather is sustainable, biodegradable and of course vegan.
Leather made from fungus doesn’t sound appealing, however a mushroom that grows in the wild and attacks trees in the subtropical sounds cooler. A large sheet of mushroom leather will grow in approximately 2 months and has a suede-like soft texture. The best thing about this product is that its 100% vegan, non toxic tanning is required and is biodegradable. Have I sold you on fungus grown leather yet?
The cactus is probably one of the coolest plants out there, apart from the fact that it lives in the hot desert. Two Mexican entrepreneurs wanted to create a product that is cruelty free, a sustainable alternative, without any toxic chemicals, phthalates and PVC. The result, Cactus Leather, which is partially biodegradable and has the technical specifications required by the fashion industry, leather goods, furniture and automotive industries. Cactus is green and so is the future!
Stealing the show at UN Sustainable awards in 2019, this play on words demonstrates how flowers have increased their game. Rising from Kanpur, the leather city of India, Anit Agarwal discovered a revolutionary version of leather. As an automation engineer, initially his start-up ‘PHOOL’, was an effort to stop River Ganga from becoming a dumping ground for over 8 metric tons of toxic floral waste daily. Since 2015, more than 11,060 metric tons of flower waste collected everyday from temples and mosques in Uttar Pradesh, has been recycled at PHOOL. I’m excited to start seeing this material in products soon.
Are you ready to add plant-based products to your eco-friendly wardrobe? Join me on a slow fashion experience in Porto and purchase unique plant-based products from Portuguese brands. Comment your thoughts and share amongst friends to inspire their choices too.