How to make our hearts sing on a Sunday… with thanks to Forest Hunt’s science and nature page for covering this breakthrough, compassionate, scientific development that will save cows from the hideous leather industry.
‘A German startup is growing real leather — without killing a single animal
Inside a biofabrication lab in Berlin, German scientists have created something nearly indistinguishable from real cowhide — except it never came from a cow. It’s lab-grown leather, made entirely from animal-free cells and engineered to mimic the texture, smell, and strength of traditional leather — without the cruelty or environmental cost.
The company, BioKraftwerk, uses collagen-producing microbes harvested from yeast and fungi. These microbes are fed sugar in bioreactors, where they pump out collagen — the main protein in skin. That collagen is then spun into sheets, tanned using plant enzymes, and textured to match the grain of animal hides.
The final result is stunning. Side by side, it looks and feels exactly like traditional leather — pliable, durable, breathable. It even ages like leather, developing creases and character over time. But unlike cowhide, it takes 99% less water to produce, emits no methane, and requires no grazing land.
The fashion industry is already lining up. Several high-end designers have placed early orders, hoping to phase out animal leather by 2030. The synthetic leather also accepts natural dyes better than animal skins and can be produced in precise dimensions — meaning less waste during manufacturing.
BioKraftwerk’s tech is scalable and modular. If adopted globally, it could remove over 1 billion animals from the leather supply chain each year — and dramatically reduce deforestation in cattle ranching zones like the Amazon.
The future of luxury goods? Ethical, engineered, and alive — just not in the way we’re used to.’
udeshs Amazing breakthrough!! Hope this is future of the leather industry....personally I wont buy, I hate the smell of leather...4 likesReply
sianski Me too. I think it’s early days but hopefully unstoppable 🌟I know what you mean about replicating the smell of an animal’s skin. Why? I suppose it helps with the substitution for those customers who long to sit on the flesh of someone else 🙁3 likesReply
udeshs Yes i agree and I support it if saves animals lives..1 likeReply
ruckus Think of it as the beyond burger. Helps people transition when it resembles their error. People who are on the fence still about eating dead bodies, this helps to nudge them. Weird, but it works. The important part is less slaughter, especially once this becomes the norm. 1 likeReply
ruckus The companies have to produce it in a way that is cheaper than dead bodies. In this post capitalist society, that’s important. More people will buy cheaper, so it has to be vegan options and vegan companies that champion that, to really break through. Being vegan isn’t enough, it has to be durable and cheaper if not just as expensive.
This applies for food too. It has to be cheaper, tastier AND, most importantly, as cheap or cheaper. I don’t know why vegan companies think that making things more expensive will win ppl over by the masses, in order for veganism to have an impact, especially in wage slave society, where producing cheap uneducated labor/people is systemically cyclical. 🤦 1 likeReply
ruckus I still see non vegan commercials more than vegan ones. Are there vegan commercials, or companies, like npr or whatever, that would promote them more? Who is going to shop products when they don’t know about them, or even think about them? 1 likeReply
sianski I agree. Appealing alternatives help turn our heads. 2 likesReply
sianski As for the cost, all your comments have bearing on the wish to make vegan products more popular. Is it the supply and demand conundrum? There would be more demand for faux leather and ‘beyond burger’ if it was cheaper, but the firms need to sell a lot of units in order to start bringing the price down. Reply
ruckus They dont commercialize anything. Incentive to buy doesn’t only come from the product itself, but marketing. If they don’t get in that game, slaughterhouse industry will just keep gaslighting through it. When I drive through a highway, I don’t see a single vegan friendly food spot advertised, but I get step by step instructions on how to find slaughter house food. Just an example. How will people know what to buy, that’s competitive, easily accessible and meets quality compared, by the masses? The slaughter house industry knows how. Also they get a bunch of subsidization, which again, vegan companies for some reason don’t want to demand. 1 likeReply
sianski I see what you mean. The marketing is also a big investment for young companies and as you point out the meat marketing is very well established and subsidised. Even so, the curiosity is growing for plant-based food. Breakthrough companies like Oatley now advertise widely because they have cornered the market for oatmilk. It’s the preferred brand in many of the cafes in London where I live.1 likeReply
ruckus There are many organizations that would advertise. Organizations that focus on sustainability and progress. Are these vegan companies doing their best to make those connections, and have them help market? Not just young companies, there are plenty of well established vegan brands, like Just egg, who refuse to make their product as cheap if not cheaper than eggs. They are bank rolling and I don’t believe they applied for subsidization like well established slaughter houses. Reply
