INNOVATORS
OVERVIEW
The Material Innovation Initiative works with entrepreneurs, scientists, and material companies to develop sustainable and animal-free alternatives to leather, silk, wool, down, fur, and exotic skins. Our landscapes below provide an overview of companies producing animal-free alternatives of these six materials. These landscapes are not intended to be a comprehensive view of market developments. A number of companies and entrepreneurs have asked to remain confidential.
Each company is categorized by the main input (>50%) used to make the material: plant-derived, mycelium, cultured animal cells, micro-derived, recycled material, blend.
Not every input is appropriate for every material type. Next-gen silk is unlikely to be made with mycelium, for example. For definitions of these inputs and information on our selection process, please see the link below.
PLANT-DERIVED
Articor Cork Products
BarkTex
Beyond Leather: Leap™
Bio2Materials
Biophilica: Treekind™
C-Combinator
Coopflora
Fiquetex
Fiscatech: E-ULTRA®, Fly Tela Eco, RINNOVA
Fruitleather Rotterdam
Frumat: Appleskin™
Genuinely Not Leather
Gunas New York: Mulbtex
Grado Zero Innovation: Muskin™
ISA TanTec: COSM™ HyphaLite, VeraLite
Jord: Suberhide™
Lignopure: LignoLeather
Luckynelly
Natural Fiber Welding: Mirum
Nova Kaeru: beLEAF
Nuvi Nomad: Teak Leaf leather
Ohoskin
Oleago: Oleatex™
Ono Collaborations
Panama Trimmings: Viridis®
Pretty Simple
Proyecto Menos es Más: Bambuflex©
Seringueira
Studio Tjeerd Veenhoven: Palmleather
Vegskin
Von Holzhausen: Technik Leather, Banbū Leather
MYCELIUM
Ecovative Design: MycoFlex™, Forager™ Hides
Mogu
Spora Biotech: Sporatex
CULTURED
MICROBE-DERIVED
Bioleather
Bucha Bio: Bucha Leather
Karu: Tilex
MakeGrowLab: TransLeather™
Modern Meadow
Modern Synthesis
Newlight: AirCarbon™
Patent Shoes: BacLEATHER™
Provenance Bio
Scoby Tec
BLEND
Coronet: BioVeg, Maison, Innovaction
General Silicones: Compo-SiL®
Gucci: Demetra
Sileather
PLANT-DERIVED
ettitude: CleanBamboo™
Ipeker
Smartfiber AG: SeaCell™; Smartcel™
Spidey Tek
Lenzing: Tencel™
PLANT-DERIVED
RECYCLED MATERIAL
PLANT-DERIVED
Devo Home
RECYCLED MATERIAL
Culthread
Unreal Fur
BLEND
House of Fluff: BIOFUR™
PLANT-DERIVED
RECYCLED MATERIAL
Save the Duck: Recycled Plumtech®
3M: Thinsulate™ Insulation Featherless
Thermore: Ecodown®
MICROBE-DERIVED
CULTURED ANIMAL CELLS
VitroLabs