Plant Based Bioleather As a Sustainable Alternative To Traditional Leather

Q. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind founding Bioleather and what motivated you to create a sustainable alternative to traditional leather?

The journey started back in college where we visited a lot of canaries as a project. So leather was a big factor in pollution as it results in a lot of waste water. Plus there’s the animal cruelty aspect. Another thing we came across was the post harvest loss in agriculture. Out of 100 tonnes of fruits or vegetables, almost 30% goes to waste, and Bioleather was a great idea to tackle both these problems. Initially, we began with microbial leather in college and started plant-based leather in early 2022. 

Q. What are the various source materials you use to create Bioleather?

Microbial leather comprises water, sugar, and a bunch of microbes, and is basically a lab-grown leather-like material. The flagship product of Bioleather is tomato-based leather which is pure PVC free and 100% biodegradable. India is the second largest producer of tomatoes and waste or inedible tomatoes, which are not good for the market and comprise 30 -35% of the overall tomato harvest, are used for the production of leather. By inedible tomatoes, we do not mean rotten tomatoes, but the ones which are not fit for consumption either because of their discolouration, low fragrance or less sweetness levels. Such tomatoes are pulverized, mixed with biopolymer, and put on top of cotton fabric to get the final product. Other than tomatoes, there are a variety of other sources with mango being one of them, since mango has one of the highest post harvest losses. Most fruits which fall in the waste category and are not good enough to be sold can be used as source materials. This also creates a source of income for farmers as we buy these fruits and vegetables which would have otherwise been waste for them.

Q. How does Bioleather compare to traditional leather in terms of durability, comfort, and environmental impact?

In terms of durability, you can use Bioleather for 4 to 5 years, and when it comes to comfort, it is as similar as it can get to original leather. In terms of environmental impact, bioleather involves the use of 90% less water, 80% less electricity, and almost 95% less use of land area. When a person touches or feels Bioleather, it is almost the same as traditional leather. 

Q. How does Bioleather compare to traditional leather products cost wise?

When it comes to pricing, Bioleather sits quite in between PU or PVC leather, which is a very cheap form of leather, and traditional real leather. Bioleather sits right in the middle when you look at the price point and costs about Rs. 60 per square feet. 

Q. What is the acceptance level among consumers for a switch to leather alternatives, and do you see this acceptance increasing?

The acceptance level of bioleather and plant-based alternatives are increasing day-by-day. Usually, when people go out to the market to buy something new and innovative, they hesitate and we need to do lots of convincing. However, the leather industry is declining for 5 straight years in India now and the margin levels have fallen down to single digits. Earlier, it used to be a lucrative industry but the exports have also gone down because of the awareness about leather impact in European as well as the American market. The industry is looking for alternatives and they don’t like cheap quality PU and PVC leather. So, industries are switching to bioleather increasingly and experiencing an increase in their margins. As a result, the acceptance level for bioleather is going up. Another reason is that PU / PVC based cheap leather products start to peel off if we store it for a long duration but plant-based leather does not face this issue. 

Q. What is your current scale of operations both in terms of volume & revenue?

We have developed our own custom proprietary technology for making plant-based leather and have scaled it up to a production capacity of 2000 meters per day. Currently, we are producing around 10,000 meters per month which is less than what we expect to do, but we plan to increase it as soon as we can. If we talk about the revenue part, then we have crossed the 2 Crore mark. 

Q. How do you see the market for sustainable materials evolving in the next few years, and what role will Bioleather play in this transformation?

There is a huge potential in sustainable leather products and the growing demand of sustainable products around the globe is quite high. On the local front, the demand is low and we are very slow at adopting a sustainable mindset and products. Still, the global demand is increasing very fast and our company is growing at a threefold quarter on quarter. It is certainly going to be a huge market in the near future. However, there haven’t been any government initiatives or subsidies to support organizations so far. 

Q. What are your future plans for Bioleather, and what new products or innovations can we expect to see?

Our future plans right now is to expand to each and every country right now. We started with a distributor model and it is currently going on right now. However, we are independently expanding towards European countries, Australia, UAE, and America in the coming year. Almost 95% of our distribution happens online as we are working on a new generation of products. Currently, most of our customers are export houses who use our raw material to make products and export to other parts of the world. However, we aim to directly sell products in the Europe and Australian market as they are quite geared towards sustainability.