At first blush, Vicki von Holzhausen’s latest handbag collection looks like the leather bags she made when she launched her eponymous brand in 2015. The exterior has a delicate grain and is buttery to the touch; the interior feels like it’s made of soft suede. But these new bags aren’t leather at all: They’re made from recycled water bottles and will biodegrade at the end of their life cycle.
Many leather alternatives on the market are an improvement on cowhides, but they’re still problematic because they’re made from materials that don’t decompose. Von Holzhausen has found a solution with her new line of biodegradable handbags. And now that she’s nailed the formula, she plans to sell it to other companies. “My goal is to make traditional leather extinct,” she says.
Plastic is widely used in the fashion industry because it’s cheap and can morph into a range of textures. But it’sterrible for the environment, and more companies have started to look for alternatives. Over the last few years, brands like Everlane, Adidas, and Reformation have swapped out new plastic with recycled plastic from old water bottles. While this ensures that discarded plastic gets a second life, the material still doesn’t biodegrade. It’s either incinerated, spewing carbon into the atmosphere, or ends up in oceans and landfills, where it breaks down into tiny plastic particles that end up inour rain, water, and bodies.She launched her handbag line three years ago in an effort to change this: Her debut line contained pieces made from both leather and Technik-Leather, to show customers how similar they looked and felt. Traditionally, leather alternatives have been poor imitations of the real thing, so von Holzhausen worked hard to perfect the texture of Technik-Leather. It contains seven layers of recycled plastic fabric including an ultra-thin layer of foam for suppleness and a resin imprinted with a subtle grain.
As the brand grew, von Holzhausen started removing real leather from the collection and found it didn’t impact sales at all. In fact, the brand went on to partner with Apple on a set of tech accessories made from Technik-Leather that appears in every store. In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, in which luxury sales have been down by as much as 60%, von Holzhausen says her sales have been up thanks, in part, to a collection of household products, like coasters and placemats.
Now, she’s ramping up to sell her materials to other companies. “Part of the reason I launched the business was to demonstrate that consumers were willing to buy luxury products that weren’t made from leather,” she says. “But the only way to really have an impact is if other brands follow suit.”
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