How This Designer is Creating Vegan Exotic Leather Using Leucaena Tree Pods

WEAR

Aug 10

New vegetal leather alternative Leukeather - which uses discarded pods, biotechnology, and a circular economy strategy - has the potential to save the millions of ‘exotic’ animals killed for their skins.

UAE-based Egyptian architect Nuhayr Zein has developed a high-quality vegan alternative to exotic leather, which is made from dried pods from the Leucaena tree species. The resulting material, Leukeather, is naturally patterned, making it the first vegetal leather alternative that does not require embossing to achieve an animal, leather-like texture.

Dried Leucaena pods are harvested and collected by farmers from existing farms and then split to remove the seeds, which are donated for medical purposes (their extract has antioxidant and antidiabetic activities). The company then uses biotechnology to make the pods more flexible, elastic, and soft, resulting in a sustainable plant-based, naturally waterproof and plastic-free material alternative to exotic leather.

In addition to that, Leukeather employ a circular economy strategy in the production process by planting trees using the collected seeds to restore woodland cover and collect more pods for production.

“We take pride in literally working with nature to enhance its performance using biotechnology to accommodate our planet’s needs,” said Leukeather on its website. “Leukeather is considerate of people, animals, and our planet as a whole.”

The fashion industry's current reliance on animal-based "exotic" skin products sees millions of animals including crocodiles, snakes, stingrays, sharks, kangaroos, and giraffes slaughtered every year. Leukeather could offer a sustainable, plant-based solution.

“The objective of Leukeather is to eliminate or reduce the unethical killing of protected species by introducing a non-toxic plant alternative that has a similar exotic appearance,” said Leukeather on its Instagram account.

Working with nature, not against it

Leukeather was created as part of the 2021 Tanween program in collaboration with Tashkeel, an art and design studio and gallery in Dubai. The program supports four designers each year with the research, development and production of projects that focus on sustainable answers to critical issues.

Zein was one of four designers chosen from 58 applicants for this program. To showcase the capabilities of Leukeather, she designed an ottoman using digitally carved oak wood and the innovative exotic leather alternative.

“This piece explores the symbolic value of working with nature rather than against it by sustainably altering two natural materials (dried pods and solid wood) to give them acquired traits only achievable through human intervention,” reads the project description.

Vegan leather alternatives made from natural materials such as fruit and vegetables are rising in popularity because of their ethical and sustainable benefits. Stella McCartney recently debuted the first-ever fungi-leather handbag, while fashion brands around the world, including Nike, H&M, Hugo Boss, Paul Smith, and Zara have released products made from pineapple leather.

Check out some of our favorite animal-free leather alternative here and learn more about these next-gen materials by listening to our podcast episode with Sydney Gladman, the chief scientific officer at Material Innovation Initiative (MII), and Ranjani Theregowda, MII’s environmental data scientist here.

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