The future of leather: Pineapple!
Bag prototypes made from Piñatex™ by Smith Matthias
The waste from pineapple harvests is being transformed into "pineapple leather". True innovation!
The makers of Piñatex™ are Ananas Anam, a London-based co. that manufacture and sell the material, describing their invention as "an innovative, natural and sustainable non-woven textile".
Zero Waste creation by MAYYA SALIBA. Image via Instagram
It's no secret the traditional leather industry has some nasty shadows. Noxious chemicals like chromium - the most common way to tan leather these days - is often dumped in the local environment, and they say even in modern facilities it's impossible to eliminate this toxic waste.
The people working in tanneries are exposed to all of these chemicals too, with chromium still the most dangerous with many health impacts.
This industry underbelly definitely changed my thinking around leather shoes particularly - I know I was raised to see leather as a higher-quality, durable and all-round better choice.
But there's simply not enough transparency around how and where brands source their leather - and I don't want to have to turn to synthetic, petrochemical-based alternatives.
Now it's up to fashion, footwear and furniture brands to embrace this new material.
Brands like handbag label Taikka, sustainable fashion label MAYYA SALIBA, and Portuguese vegan shoemakers NAE have produced products so far, with some really cool prototypes by the likes of Camper and SmithMatthias developed too.
I'll be following this one!
