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APPLE SKIN

What is it?  Apple Skin is a leather alternative made from fruit - more specifically from the skin and core waste recovered from the food industry. The result is a cellulose-based material featuring a variety of textures, thicknesses and embossing and laser prints, allowing for it to be used across industry. 

Who makes it? 
Frumat  Leather was founded by Hannes Parth and they are the company behind the Apple Leather.  Frumat received the Technology and Innovation Award in 2018 for their innovative textile technology.
Mabel SRL is located in Florence, Italy. Mabel is the company that physically manufactures the AppleSkin material. The process is patented by Frumat.

How is it made?
After making apple juice, the pulp is left, which is usually thrown away. To make the leather, the apple waste, from apples cultivated in Italy, is dried and ground into powder. This powder is mixed with pigments and a binder and spread out onto a canvas, until it turns into a leather-like material, which is PETA-approved vegan.
The material contains a minimum of 50% apple fibre and is created in Bolzano, Italy.
Using the cores and skins discarded from the industrial food industry, apples are puréed, spread on a solid sheet and dehydrated until almost all of the moisture has been removed. This purée turns into a flexible, leathery sheet that is then combined with Polyurethane to create the vegan leather. 

Which brands use it? 
Brands such as Happy Genie, Verrah, Womsh, Luxtra London has already opened their eyes towards the innovative material and is using it in their products. 

Environmental impact
Farmers tend to leave up to 40% of their harvest in the fields, because it does not meet the cosmetic standards for the supermarkets. Collecting and recycling this waste and discarded fruits  means less waste from the foodindustry.
No cows or other livestock is involved in developing the vegan leather saving greenhouse gasses and methane emission.
The tanning of the vegan leather is a lot cleaner and not as polluting, as the one used in conventional leather production so the toxins used in the tanning process is reduced.  
The leather is vegan which means that it is 100% cruelty free.