Confession time: My household owns two cars, one with leather and one with “leather.” The former feels amazing, the latter … well, let’s just say it’s not fooling anyone.
Based on the samples currently sitting on my desk, leather alternatives don’t have to feel so artificial or be so harsh on the environment.
Most fake leathers are made using plastics derived from fossil fuels. The samples from Uncaged Innovations, though, are made mostly using grains including wheat, soy, and corn. The results feels remarkably like a variety of real animal leathers. One even smelled like it.
“Leather is not just leather,” co-founder and CEO Stephanie Downs told TechCrunch. “There’s literally a thousand types of leather: different animals, different thicknesses, different ways that they tan it. We had to develop something that could be really easily customizable.”
Uncaged exclusively told TechCrunch that it’s now working with Hyundai’s Cradle division to refine its material for automotive use. The goal is to create a durable, animal- and climate-friendly material that can replace leather in cars and trucks. Uncaged says its material’s carbon footprint is 95% lower than that of leather.
Last month, the startup also announced a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover.
Leather alternatives are almost as old as the automotive industry itself, with early Ford Model T cars using primitive faux leather as early as 1913. The quality has improved over the years, but many alternatives still don’t have the same feel as the genuine article.
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The startup’s materials are currently used in vegan-friendly handbags and watch straps, and while fashion companies might be high-profile customers, automakers are arguably bigger targets. Each leather interior can consume anywhere from two to 14 cowhides, depending on how much of the interior is covered in leather and how picky the automaker is about quality. Since cows live outside, their skin is often scarred from things like bug bites or encounters with barbed wire fences. Those blemishes mean that a significant portion of leather is often wasted.
Because Uncaged’s material is made in a factory, it’s consistent in a way that cowhides are not.
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