Leather is one of the more common textile materials we use. It can be found as coats, purses, jewelry, furniture etc, because it’s so versatile but unfortunately, it’s not really the most animal friendly option for material. Modern Meadow is creating a new type of leather without the need for an actual animal.

Brace yourself because this is some Margret Atwood Maddam Series level stuff. This team creates leather by growing collagen from living cells. That’s the stuff that makes up skin, in this case, animal skin which is known as leather. The website gives a nice breakdown of exactly how this process works.

This means that the product in the end is leather but no cow had to die to make it. So soon you can have that sweet leather jacket with none of the animal cruelty. It’s also a lot less wasteful because each piece can be made to fit the need. There are no waste ends or imperfections. This process also lets new types of leather be created that combine aspects of different species. All in all, the future of leather may be removed from the wild and taken to the lab.