Leather alternatives
Vegan Leather Made by Frutmat (Apple Skin Leather)
Born in Italy, this innovative bio-based alternative created in 2008 by Frutmat sends waste from the apple juice and apple compote industry (peels and cores) to a new destination: notebooks, handbags, and even running shoes. By recovering these wastes, Frutmat manages to prevent them from decomposing, thus avoiding the emission of methane gas, one of the many causes of environmental pollution.
Vegan leather made from Piñatex
Where Frutmat is apple leather, Piñatex is pineapple leather, and both can be described with just one word: revolutionary. Piñatex is vegan leather made from the fibre of pineapple leaves. For many, it's the future of eco-friendly fashion. This innovative product promises to be one of the most sustainable and eco-friendly vegan leather materials because it requires no water, fertilizers, or additional land for its production and also reuses something that would traditionally be discarded or burned. But its eco-benefits don't stop there; after processing Piñatex, biomass remains as a residue, which can be used as fertilizer.
Vegan leather made from cork
Known for its use in bottle stoppers, cork is, for many, the best material to produce vegan leather thanks to its versatility and resistance, as well as its responsibility to the environment. Cork comes from the bark of the cork tree, which is periodically stripped in sections. This process avoids the deforestation of cork forests. It even helps to encourage the regeneration process of the bark, increasing the tree's lifespan, thus making cork leather a super sustainable material. With an infinite variety of products such as wallets, shoes, summer sandals, belts, and bags, cork-based leather is a highly versatile material. It's also waterproof, lightweight, and recyclable.
Vegan leather made from grape
Italy, a leading wine exporter, has managed to turn its waste into high-value raw material for the creation of VEGEA, a completely vegetable vegan leather. An architect named Gianpiero Tessitore, after realising the potential of fake leather made from grape began to study and research for years the physical properties of vegetable fibres to see their ability to transform into an eco-friendly and anti-cruelty material. This is how in 2016, he began VEGEA's production. Made out of grape skins and seeds left over after winemaking, VEGEA is an authentic eco vegan leather. It doesn't involve harmful chemicals, wasted water, or injured animals.
Vegan faux leather made from mushroom
Mylo uses the caps of the Phellinus ellipsoideus mushroom to create a beautiful vegan leather material. Made by US biotechnology company Bolt Threads, Mylo is a vegan leather that has the potential to replace animal and plastic leather thanks to its sustainability and biodegradability. It can grow in small spaces, doesn't need to be treated with toxic chemicals, has antibacterial properties, and feels softer than traditional leather. Nowadays, several products are made from this type of vegan leather, such as clothing, bags, and sofa upholstery, among others.
Vegan leather made from Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC or Vinyl)
PVC is the cheapest way to produce vegan leather, but has a negative impact on the environment. Polyvinyl chloride leather is a type of faux leather made by altering vinyl, a flexible plastic resin, to the desired texture, colour and shape to suit different leather products. Vegan leather made from PVC is very durable and versatile.
Vegan leather made from Polyurethane (PU)
Polyurethane or PU is a common type of vegan leather which uses a synthetic. Polyurethane can look highly similar to genuine leather, making it a great alternative aesthetically. Polyurethane is a solid choice because it uses fewer resources than leather to make it more sustainable. Leather has to be tanned, which requires the use of a lot of chemicals. Additionally, leather causes air pollution during the preparation to tan it.
Microfiber vegan leather consists of two parts.
- Microfiber base - The microfiber base is the most important part of the material. The microfiber is unlike clothing in that it is non-woven. Instead of being woven like cloth, the microfibers are made to coagulate in three dimensions so that they mimic the structure of skin. The resulting material is soft, supple, breathable, and much more durable than the any alternative that we have tested.
- Polyurethane top coat - The polyurethane on top helps create different looks, textures, and feels. In our materials, the adhesion to the microfiber base layer is extremely strong. The resulting material is generally extremely durable and often outperforms leather in a variety of tests. Not only does it use fewer resources than leather, but polyurethane products also cost less than genuine leather because it’s easier to manufacture and easier to maintain; polyurethane doesn’t dry out over time and doesn’t absorb water, which makes it easy to clean.