{"id":165537,"date":"2021-07-29T16:52:51","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T16:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/in-depth-five-a-day-fashion-the-rise-of-plant-based-leather\/"},"modified":"2021-08-12T11:42:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T11:42:58","slug":"in-depth-five-a-day-fashion-the-rise-of-plant-based-leather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/in-depth-five-a-day-fashion-the-rise-of-plant-based-leather\/","title":{"rendered":"In-Depth: Five a day fashion \u2013 the rise of plant-based \"leather\""},"content":{"rendered":"
The next time you are in the fruit and vegetable section of your local supermarket, hand-picking the source of your latest five-a-day, take a look at the potential origins of your next luxury handbag or accessory.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Plant leather is becoming big business. Driven by vegan and sustainable demands, apples, pineapples, grapes, mushrooms, and even mangoes, are being turned into forms of synthetic leather.<\/strong><\/p>\n Just as meat-free has made in-roads into our diets, animal free leather alternatives are stealing a march on your wardrobes,<\/strong> mostly notably in accessories.<\/p>\n How new is \u201cplant leather\u201d? Why are so many brands and designers turning to these new materials and is it really as green and sustainable as we\u2019re led to believe?<\/p>\n Futures consultant Petah Marian says: \u201cThere is an emerging shift towards more vegan lifestyles, where some people are not wanting to wear leather. Plant-based leathers have also had a very positive rebrand with luxury brands like Stella McCartney and Nanushka making them aspirational items.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Synthetic leather is divided into three categories: PU (polyurethane), PVC, and Bio-based. In 2020, the market was valued at over $30 billion.\u00a0Infinium Global Research<\/a>\u00a0published a global report in 2020 on the\u00a0Vegan Leather Market<\/a>\u00a0which estimated that the market for vegan leather will reach up to $89.6 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 49.9%, in the forecast period (2019-2025).<\/p>\n \u201cSome people perceive leather as being a luxury good, one that is durable and worthy of a premium price tag, but increasingly people are becoming concerned about the environmental impacts of the tanning process<\/strong>,\u201d says Marian.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the processes around plant-based leathers have improved and the product has improved in tactility, consumers are becoming increasingly interested in buying products that are made from plant-based leather,<\/strong>\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Marian thinks these leathers warrant a premium price tag: \u201cA lot of R&D is going into creating these new leathers and businesses are pushing them as innovation.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the moment, there\u2019s not much consumer clarity around the differences between plant-based leathers and fake leathers made from polyurethane.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cOperators in the space need to help consumers understand what plant leathers are made of, their current limitations and how they\u2019re working to get them to a more sustainable point. For instance, many plant-based leathers are coated with plastics and are not biodegradable,<\/strong>\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Tyler Ellis, a Los Angeles based accessory designer and the daughter of the renowned American fashion designer Perry Ellis, has turned to apple leather for a capsule collection of premium bags. Founded in 2011, her eponymous label\u2019s \u201cApple Vogue\u201d collection, priced \u00a31,000 - \u00a31,878, is handcrafted in Florence using a special custom apple leather that has been created by the Italian ecologic textile developer Mabel Srl.<\/p>\n