Mira Nameth

Updated March 2024

Leather production adds to the climate crisis

Leather is the world’s most environmentally destructive textile. Its production pollutes the air with high carbon emissions and consumes 16,000 liters of water for every 1 kilogram of leather. Unfortunately, plastic-based synthetic leather substitutes like polyurethane and PVC are not biodegradable and cannot be recycled, adding to plastics pollution, and their production further adds to greenhouse gas emissions and the climate crisis.

“Industries like fashion and auto manufacturing are looking for leather alternatives,” says Biophilica founder and CEO Mira Nameth. “There’s an opportunity and a need for textiles with similar properties but negligible environmental impact.”

An 'aha' moment in a park leads to a biodegradable leather alternative

The seed for Biophilica was planted when Mira became a mother in 2013. “The birth of my daughter increased my desire to make the world better for future generations,” she says. “As a mother, I became concerned with the chemicals going into everyday products.”

Hoping to create safer, less-toxic materials, Mira began to pursue a master’s degree in product design at the Royal College of Art. Her “aha” moment arrived one day in 2018 when she picked up a leaf while walking on London’s Kensington High Street. Could green waste from parks, gardens, and agriculture, she wondered, be used to create mainstream materials?

The answer was yes. “I turned my kitchen into a lab,” she recalls. “If you’re making a material in a kitchen surrounded by children, you naturally follow a non-toxic process. You know it’s going to be safe.”

The result of her research was Treekind® and her company, Biophilica, founded in 2019, which today also produces a bio-based adhesive. Treekind, made from leaves and other raw compostable materials, is both biodegradable and home compostable, so it nourishes the earth at the end of its life cycle instead of creating new waste.

Treekind® reduces carbon emissions and water use

Today, Treekind® is ranked as the world’s number-two leather alternative by EcoCult, a prominent guide to sustainable and ethical fashion. Biophilica’s manufacturing process produces very low CO2 emissions and uses less than 0.1 percent of the water required by leather processing. In September 2023, Eurofins Ecotoxicologie verified Treekind® as home compostable.

Treekind® comes in a range of widths, finishes, and colors, and has passed numerous industry tests for the durability of leather goods. It’s also vegan certified by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The leather alternative is gaining traction among manufacturers. In May 2023, luxury watchmaker 'ID Genève' launched a limited collection featuring watch straps made from Treekind®.

Mira is excited about the possibilities for expanding Treekind® production globally. “We can produce Treekind® on almost any continent where there’s green, agricultural, or forestry waste. So as we expand, people will be able to buy products that are more locally sourced, reducing shipping footprints. It could mean the start of fully bio-based products, made without harmful chemicals, on a global scale.”