Vegan Leather Part 2

Vegan Leather Pt. 2: Mushroom

We recently posted about a renewable, cruelty-free alternative to animal leather made from the pineapple plant, Piñatex; here we introduce a second alternative: 

Muskin

Source: Materia.nl

Muskin is a 'vegan' leather material made from mushrooms. The skin is extracted and then processed in a similar way to animal leather, but without the use of harsh and toxic chemicals. Instead, the tanning process uses natural, 'soft' chemicals. This makes Muskin entirely non-toxic and safe to use in products that come into contact with skin, like shoes and leather watch straps. As a bonus, the Muskin leather looks like suede, but is even softer to the touch.

Source: GradoZero.eu

Manufactured by the Italian 

company Grado Zero Espace, 

the 'leather' is 100% biodegradable, bacteria resistant, and can be manufactured to be water absorbent (perfect for insoles) or water repellent. While it is still in the early stages of production, Muskin shows promise in products like purses, hats, watch straps, shoes, and more.

As alternative materials like Piñatex and Muskin continue to develop, environmentally damaging, unsustainable, and often labor-intensive materials, like leather, can easily be replaced without losing the qualities and products to which we are accustomed.