PETA surely will be proud of these two Mexican farmers. The duo, who are also friends have developed vegan leather made from cactus. The leather made from cactus leaves is called Desserto.
The hard, thick and pointy cactus is rugged in nature. But, when fully developed and processed, resembles actual leather. Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez have named the company that develops the leather as Adriano Di Marti. The friends who have worked in furniture automotive and fashion industries realised that the problem of environmental pollution is indeed a huge one.
The plus point is, the duo don't use any harmful chemicals or PVC in processing the cactus into the perishable leather, that has a shelf-life of 10 years. The product was first showcased in Milan in October 2019.
Leather derived from animal skin, does not only cost millions of animals their lives but, as large quantities of water and harmful chemicals are used to process it, it depletes water resources and is not biodegradable, amounting to a large carbon footprint for the leather industry.