Our leather is very rare and does not use animals or plastic. Read more below.
About the plant leather material:
- Our Bio-based plant material is ethically made in Illinois by Natural Fiber Welding
- Made from only natural materials like agricultural waste, natural rubber and plant oils
- 100% plastic-free and petroleum-free - even the notions and packaging like metal zipper, slides, etc, are plastic-free). This is very rare in the vegan leather world, read more below.
- 100% zero waste and circular. Scraps from this collection are turned into smaller items, and all unusable scraps will be sent back to Natural Fiber Welding in Illinois to be turned into new material.
- 88% reduction in carbon emissions compared to traditional leather
- Smells natural, like plants in a forest
- Non-animal, cruelty-free, vegan leather (without the plastic that most vegan leathers include)
- Our white leather backpack material is a matte smooth texture with a natural rice hull blend, creating the appearance of tiny colorful dots or stars within the material
- White canvas interior lining
About the product:
- Unisex leather backpack
- The perfect backpack for work, or a comfy travel bag for avoiding looking like a tourist.
- Our leather laptop backpack is slightly oversized and meant to be able to comfortably hold a laptop without breaking the zipper - don't we all hate that?! On top of a laptop, our backpack can fit a planner, chargers, wallet and keys, hoodie and any other everyday essentials. Lookout parents, this could even be your new modern backpack diaper bag!
- Modern hidden/clean front pocket
- Adjustable backpack shoulder straps
- Reusable/recyclable durable YKK brass metal zipper and slider bars
- 18" tall, 14" wide, 6" deep
About the ethical small batch manufacturing:
- Co-designed by our founder Hayley Santell and Madison Stitch
- Patterns made by Maria Rodriguez and Madison Stitch
- Made in Kansas City by cut and sew artisans at Madison Stitch. As always, we pay a living wage to all sewers and every member of our team
How our leather-alternative is different from traditional vegan leather and animal leather:
Compared to most vegan leather:
Many don't know this (because it's not very transparent in the traditional vegan leather industry), but nearly ever vegan leather on the market uses between 30-80% amount of plastic content, and producing these products typically involves solvents, plasticizers, or other processing chemicals. Vegan leather is marketed as kind to animals and the planet, but really, it's often harmful to the environment and non biodegradable. They start as plastics, and plastic is typically made by burning fossil fuels that release carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and ashes. Plastic is also notorious for taking hundreds to thousands of years to degrade.
These days, vegan leather manufacturers have been getting very innovative and using pineapples, mangoes, apples, cacti, and grapes to make leather-like material from natural materials. HOWEVER, many of these companies are not very transparent about the fact that most (if not all) of these "natural vegan leather" materials are not actually plastic-free.
Compared to animal leather:
Our leather-alternative achieves an 88% reduction in carbon emissions compared to traditional leather
More about how your purchase makes a difference:
Every element of your purchase makes a difference from fair wage manufacturing to local production to sustainable materials and donating basic needs.
For every ethical basic purchased, we donate a pair of underwear to a woman in need. Why? Because it's the most under-donated item of clothing. We're 100% committed to ethical, local labor and environmental sustainability.