Material Guide: Wine Leather

Have you ever heard about wine leather? From cactus leaves to corn to apple peels, so many different plants can be used to create plant-based leathers, proving that it’s possible to produce leather without animals or plastic-based materials. Wine leather is a relatively new material on the textile market that we would love to get to know more about. 

About the material 

So apparently, wine leather is a soft, smooth, stable and sustainable fabric. It can be recycled and it almost feels like “real” leather. Wine or also called Grape leather is a 100% vegan, no animals are harmed during the process nor are any animal products being used during the production.

The main ingredient of wine leather is waste products of Italian wine production, more specifically the by-product called pomace from the grapes, including the skins, pulp, seeds and stems of the fruit. Traditionally this by-product is used as an organic fertilizer or to feed animals but the innovative Italian man Gianpiero found a new way to use it.

Wine leather doesn't need much water to be produced, and the waste water is recyclable and can therefore be used over and over again. Additionally, while leather produced from animals goes through a toxic tanning process that uses many hazardous chemicals proven to be harmful to both people and planet, the wine leather doesn't.

To make wine leather, the production starts by extracting bio-oil from the grape seeds, then the rest of the grape materials dry, to then get polymerized (combined) all together. The bio-based product is then coated onto organic cotton fabric, which forms a soft, textured, plant-based wine leather. The final product is made from 78 percent eco-composite organic cotton and 22 percent water based PU. 

The Innovators

The start-up tech company Vegea was founded in 2018 by the Milan-based architect and founder Gianpiero. According to Gianpiero and Vegea, the wine leather project is still in the start-up phase and the planned industrialization process is expected to take place in 2022. The company plans to sell 4,200,000 sqm of wine leather / year. Today Vegea's wine leather is mostly used in shoes, accessories, clothing, and bags, but the savvy start-up is now working to expand and produce upholstery and car seat covers, to demonstrate the versatility of plant-based leathers.

Is wine leather biodegradable?

Due to the freshness of this innovation, unfortunately, wine leather is not yet biodegradable and is difficult to recycle, mainly due to the coating on top of the cotton fibers. But this material will eventually play a major role in the fashion industry AND this innovative and sustainable method extends the purpose of grapes, thereby ensuring the winemaking process is more circular. 

Want to know more? Visit vegeacompany.com