Cactus & leather – together may sound odd, yet makes you imagine something that represents bold and strong.
Guess what! AdriánLópez Velarde and Marte Cázarez in Mexico made a bold move to create a strong leather out of a cactus. This vegan leather goes by the name Desserto®.
Leather is the most demandable entity in both fashion and interior design industry. Durable, Flexible, Stylish, and Expensive are style statements perfect for leather. However, from nature's point, it must be tagged cruel and toxic. The primary source of leather is animals, who get slaughtered and deskinned for this. The skin undergoes many chemical (hazardous) washes to provide the unique tan, texture, and leather durability.
Leather making is also a very water-intensive process. The chemical remnants washed out during the processing of leather harms life-forms both above & below water. According to the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Fashion industry is the world's second-largest polluting industry (no wonder in guessing who gets the star pollutant award).
With a work background in the automobile and fashion industries, Adrián and Marte quickly connected over the need to find an organic source that could help them make a cruel-free, eco-sustainable leather. They were "picky but not pricky", finalizing on spineless Nopal cactus, native flora of their homeland Mexico as the bio-source. This cactus also goes by the name prickly pear cactus owing to its edible red pear-shaped fruit.
Cactus is one of nature's carbon remover and is well-known for its less maintenance and climate-resilience. Cactus require very little water and are even able to grow in damaged soil making it ideal for farming in drought areas.
Adrián and Marte maintained organic growth conditions for their cactus farm- only rainwater and no pesticides & herbicides.
For preparing this PETA-approved vegan leather, mature nopal pads of the cactus were cut, cleaned, mashed, and dried in the sun for three days until it attains a particular humid level, which was crucial for the next steps. The dehydrated cactus powder formed a significant component in their patented formula, along with recycled cotton/polyester, natural dyes, and resin. This mixture was then processed to prepare a breathable, durable vegan leather.
The inventors claim that Desserto® is entirely biodegradable, can last up to 10 years, and are mildew-resistant.
In addition to a plethora of applicability ranging from nutritional to medicinal, cactus's utility to make leather gives it a completely different status and market value.
Next time you crave a stylish leather bag to suit your mood or want to make a unique style statement, Go vegan - Pick Desserto®.
Adios to animal leather.
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