Two guys create 'vegan leather' from cactus in a bid to make cruelty-free alternative

Two entrepreneurs from Mexico have developed a 'vegan leather' from a type of cactus in a bid to create a cruelty-free alternative to traditional leather products.

Adrian Lopez Velarde and Marte Cazarez created the animal leather alternative, named Desserto, per Vegan First.

A description of Desserto on their website states;

"Desserto is a highly sustainable plant based vegan-leather made from cactus, often distinguished by its great softness at touch while offering a great performance for a wide variety of applications and complying with the most rigorous quality and environmental standards.

"The aim is to offer cruelty free, sustainable alternative, without any toxic chemicals, phthalates and PVC. The result, Desserto, the Cactus Vegan-Leather, is partially biodegradable and has the technical specifications required by the fashion, leather goods, furniture and even automotive industries."

Adrián López Velarde spoke to Fashion United about the inspiration behind Desserto in an interview. He said of the concept:

"I had the idea after working first in the furniture and later in the automotive industry and Marte Cázarez in the fashion industry, where we identified that the problem of environmental pollution was serious.

"As a result, we were genuinely interested in reducing environmental impact, so we decided to leave our jobs and start Adriano Di Marti, a company to focus on developing Desserto, which nowadays is known as cactus or nopal vegan leather."

He later spoke about why the vegan leather made a good alternative to traditional animal leather, saying:

"After two years of research and development we managed to produce a suitable material that complies with the features and technical / mechanical specifications required by those industries that use animal or synthetic leather; also, thanks to its organic composition, it is breathable, which makes cactus or nopal vegan leather similar to animal leather."

Per El Universal, the pair hope to reduce animals deaths over the sale of leather, as well as cutting down on water use in the textile industry.

Is this something you'd be up for trying? Let us know in the comments section.