Two Guys Come Up With An Eco-Friendly Alternative To Leather Made Out Of Cactus Leaves

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), livestock is responsible for 14.5% of all greenhouse gasses created by human activity. To help lower this number, clothes manufacturers are encouraged to look for more eco-friendly alternatives to natural leather. And two Mexican entrepreneurs – Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez – may have come up with the perfect replacement.

Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez came up with a way of producing vegan leather out of cactus leaves

Image credits: desserto.com

The two men used to work in the fashion and furniture automotive industries before deciding to finally do something about the immense environmental pollution caused by the leather industry. Both of them left their jobs and spent two whole years coming up with the technology to create cactus leather.

Image credits: desserto.pelle

Nopal cacti are available almost everywhere in México, they don’t need much water and can handle extreme temperatures without dying, making them the perfect candidate for the eco-friendly leather.

Image credits: desserto.pelle

Adrián and Marte called their company Desserto and it’s the first company in the world to produce eco-friendly leather created out of cactus leaves.

Image credits: desserto.pelle

The cactus leather comes in a variety of colors, textures, and thicknesses for manufacturers to choose from.

Image credits: desserto.pelle

All of Desserto‘s cacti are grown in a ranch in Zacatecas.

Image credits: desserto.pelle

To make the leather, mature leaves of the cacti are cut, cleaned, mashed, and then dried out in the sun for three days. Afterward, the material is finally ready to be turned into sheets of leather.

Image credits: desserto.pelle

This vegan leather has all the same characteristics that animal leather has and the company says that it can be used to create anything you would make using classic leather, such as shoes, bags, and jackets.

Image credits: desserto.pelle

Image credits: desserto.pelle

Image credits: desserto.pelle