The global demand for more sustainable materials is driving innovation across industries, and lab-grown leather is emerging as a game-changing alternative to using traditional animal hides in the fashion industry. As the environmental and ethical impacts of conventional leather become increasingly scrutinised, several tissue engineering companies developing cultivated skin are at the forefront of a movement reshaping the future of fashion.
Leather production has long been tied to animal agriculture, a process with an increasingly harmful environmental footprint. Traditional leather manufacturing contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss, and high carbon emissions while also consuming vast amounts of water and energy. Additionally, the tanning process traditionally releases harmful chemicals that threaten both human and ecological health.
Against this backdrop, lab-grown leather offers a compelling long-term sustainable alternative. By cultivating leather from animal skin cells, we can eliminate the need to harm animals for their materials or excessive breeding while still delivering materials with an exact look, feel, and performance. This innovative approach not only addresses the ethical concerns of animal-derived leather but significantly reduces waste, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions from traditional farming practices.
The potential demand for lab-grown leather is transformational. As consumers and brands alike prioritise sustainability, the appetite for alternatives that meet luxury standards without environmental harm is rapidly growing and is uniquely positioned to cater to this demand.
However, lab-grown leather is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and companies are experimenting with various methods to achieve the desired quality and scalability. At ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ-๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฑ (a subsidiary of ๐๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐๐), the process is developed using an imitate process – growing 100% animal tissue (scaffold-free) but without any animals harmed in the process and being ‘rationally designed,’ which facilitates novel tanning methods to help address the environmental concerns with current tanning processes.
๐๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ฑโ๐ tissue-engineered skin uses only immortalised cells – isolated and collected from an adult animal following a strict and painless bioethics process โ to produce a tannable skin structure in a lab. Our leather is unique in that it does not use any additional supporting materials, such as plastic cellulose or synthetic alternatives, which use plant-based scaffolds to bind cells together in the final skin product and can still contribute to microplastic pollution. Instead, our process makes use of a chemically defined, cost-effective, culture media supplement, ๐๐ถ๐๐-๐ ๐ถ๐ โข, which accelerates tissue formation whilst reducing the cost of the production process.
Our business approach to ๐๐ถ๐๐-๐ ๐ถ๐ โข has sought to develop a white-label model, providing a cost-effective and scalable source of this media additive to individual manufacturers of lab-grown leather and cultivated meat, allowing them to integrate and scale the technology through their product design process of new and existing animal-alternative products.
Within the growing lab-grown leather sector other companies, such as Faircraft have recently sparked investor interest using a different technology. This company has created two IP products, using polymer scaffolds, which provide some chemical, physical, and mechanical properties to the cells used in the tissue formation. They have adopted a model which works directly with fashion companies to build and design leather products, such as the handbag they recently announced in collaboration with a Parisian company. Meanwhile, A US based company Modern Meadow is working with sportswear brands, using its Bio-Alloyโข platform – a proprietary system that combines select proteins with bio-based polymers – to produce sustainable and lightweight sports jackets in a more sustainable way than their conventional counterparts. Elsewhere, the Dutch firm Qorium has produced a bioreactor to scale up its cultivated leather tissue production capabilities. However these companies, unlike our own technology, are using synthetic scaffolds.
Scaling lab-grown leather production is a critical challenge but, collectively, this nascent industry is making significant strides. Collaboration will, understandably, be a key factor in reaching the next stage. By working directly with luxury fashion houses to integrate its materials into high-end products, these partnerships not only provide valuable feedback for product development but also signal a message to the industry about a broader industry shift toward sustainable materials. A train that the whole industry needs to get on board.
As the fashion industry grapples with its contribution to climate change, brands are under pressure to adopt greener practices. Meanwhile, consumers are demanding products that reflect their ethical and environmental values. Younger generations, in particular, are willing to pay a premium for sustainable options, and lab-grown leather offers a solution that aligns with these priorities.
The industry is still in its infancy, but its potential to revolutionise the fashion industry is clear. More and more companies are proving that itโs possible to merge tradition with innovation, delivering materials that honour the craftsmanship of leather while embracing the values of sustainability and ethical responsibility. As this technology scales and costs decline, lab-grown leather could become a cornerstone of sustainable fashion, offering both brands and consumers a way to align quality, style, and values without compromise.
As scaling efforts improve cost structures, lab-grown leather is on track to capture a significant share of this billion dollar market.