An Interview with Beyond Leather
If you have a little designer in your stomach, and dream of making a cruelty-free, and vegan design – that are sustainable and ethical – then Beyond Leather would be a very good and excellent choice. And what they say is that the plant-based Leap is under development all the time to become the most sustainable leather product, that are cruelty-free and none-animals produced. An alternative to the fashion buisness instead of real leather. They are all the time focusing on making it Leap more extrodinary and diverse. Their product is made out of apple waste.
Q&A:
- How do you contribute to a better fashion industry
Our leather alternative, Leap is made from leftover apples. We use the waste of the juice- and cider industry to create a beautiful material that looks, feels, and behaves similar to leather without the environmental costs of animal leather. During the production of Leap, we save an immense amount of water, CO2, and chemicals. Not to mention that Leap is designed for disassembly and recyclability at the end of its life. We would like to change the fashion industry for the better not only by offering a truly sustainable leather alternative but by leading the industry into a transparent system. We want to develop and produce Leap as transparently as we can. This means that we are not holding anything back, we are transparent about what we do well, but also about what we need to improve and how we want to overcome those challenges
- What got you the idea in the first place?
The idea came from our Co-Founder, Hannah Michaud 5 years ago. She studied fashion design at the Copenhagen School of Design and Technology, and in a class on biomimicry, she was given apple pulp to experiment with. The idea of using it for creating a leather alternative didn’t come immediately, but when it was born, it was clear that she tapped into something the world needs and is ready for. She started a company called The Apple Girl that evolved into Beyond Leather Materials when our other Co-Founder, Mikael Eydt joined her.
Attempting to make a leather alternative from fruit waste might seem like a crazy idea but making the impossible possible is what pushes us forward.
- Why is it important to change the fashion industry?
Today’s materials like traditional leather and alternatives are not sustainable and causing the fashion industry to be one of the most polluting industries on the globe that is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions and 20% of all global industrial water pollution. This is a problem for fashion brands and end-consumers alike.
Our philosophy is to support the end-consumer in being able to consume and express themselves without feeling guilty by supplying a material to fashion brands that they don’t need to compromise on. We don’t want sustainability to be restrictive. We want it to be a natural part of fashion.
- What would you change in the fashion industry?
We would like to change the way the fashion industry uses raw materials, starting with becoming more sustainable and more transparent. Transparency is key in steering away from greenwashing. We also want to burst the idea that something upcycled cannot be luxurious. Using waste materials does not take away from a product’s value, on the contrary, it adds value. The circular economy is becoming a more and more important concept in the fashion industry which is great, but we want to push the boundaries further and make people see that waste can be beautiful.
- What do you think would happen if we don’t change the fashion industry
The fashion industry is moving in the right direction thanks to customers being more educated about the products they buy, and the raw materials used in those products and they demand change. This change might be slow now, but we believe that companies who do not understand sustainability and transparency will be left behind, and the ones who do, will take over. The fashion industry – luckily – won’t stay the same for long.
“The fashion industry is moving in the right direction thanks to customers being more educated about the products they buy, and the raw materials used in those products and they demand change.”
Thank you to Beyond Leather – check them out here:
