BY: ALEX BROWN
Cutting down on leather production is necessary on many levels, and if not for animal rights purposes, or to trim environmental degradation, perhaps the simple and immediate benefits of new “test tube” leather will persuade many against the demand for genuine leather. The forefront company producing this new synthetic leather, Modern Meadow, is giving people a way to make the right choices for our environment, while actually helping them look fashionable. It’s a win-win.
Modern Meadow, a startup based in Brooklyn, New York, has discovered a surprisingly simple way to grow “test-tube” leather, which will rival genuine leather on all fronts—fashion, function, environmental impacts and the brutal process of leather farming from animals. For example, their process uses 99 per cent less land, according to Wired, stripping back the exorbitant costs of water, energy and green house gas emissions associated with traditional leather farming and animal agriculture.
Tanneries, specifically in the developing world, are notorious polluters, and in some cases – like the 2013 case of leather tanneries in Hazaribagh, Bangladesh – proliferators of inhumane work conditions and child labour. In regards to this case, the tanneries would release approximately “21,000 cubic meters of untreated waste containing chromium, lead and other chemicals and heavy metals into the nearby Buriganga River.”
On the other hand, Modern Meadow’s synthetic leather is birthed from an extraordinarily simple process:
A biopsy is taken from a living animal (a sample of flesh), then the skin cells (for leather) are isolated in a petri dish of sorts, and the scientists allow the cells to multiply naturally. The scientists also “maximize the production of collagen,” according to Fast Company, which is the primary structural protein in animal tissue (leather). The result of this process is synthetic leather that would be tough to distinguish from genuine leather.
But lab-grown leather begs one obvious question—isn’t there already synthetic leather, commonly referred to as pleather?
Co-founder and CEO of Modern Meadow, Andras Forgacs, tells Fast Company, the company’s goal isn’t necessarily to create synthetic leather indistinguishable from genuine leather, but rather to create a product that is actually better, more desirable and diverse. For example, synthetically grown leather has the potential to be vastly more durable. And as Forgacs says, “The variety of animals we can work with is virtually infinite.” This includes ostriches and alligators.
Unfortunately, the leather is not yet in the market, and no pricing has been disclosed, but Forgacs predicts that this synthetic leather will become publicly available before test-tube meat. This is due to more lenient regulations in fashion, compared to food, where there is a lot more room for health concerns.
With a $10 million series and investment from Horizon Ventures, a firm based in Hong Kong and led by billionaire Li Ka-shing, Modern Meadow is on its way to breaking into the market. The investment is not surprising, considering the major advantage of Modern Meadow’s business plan: rather than playing to the public’s concern for leather farming practices, play to their self-interest with a product that will make genuine leather seem cheap and obsolete.
