Emerging Alternative Leathers 2024-2034: Technologies, Trends, Players

 

Leather is a ubiquitous, versatile material, used in many diverse applications including footwear, apparel, upholstery and automotive interiors. Animal leather, which the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates exceeds 20 billion square feet in annual production, is prized for its durability, strength, and aesthetic appeal. However, animal cultivation is one of the largest single causes of greenhouse gas emissions as well as being the leading cause of deforestation. Growing concerns about the environmental impact, sustainability, and the ethics of using animal hides have driven demand for alternatives from many consumers and brands.

 

Some brands have shifted to vegan leather - in other words, plastic leather, also called synthetic leather, artificial leather, or faux leather. Plastic leather's low cost has led it to become the dominant alternative for leather applications. However, there are clear sustainability concerns regarding plastic leather's petrochemical feedstocks, problematic disposal, and microplastics. Most plastic leather is disposed into landfills while a concerned amount is mismanaged and released into the environment. As such, plastic leather cannot be the solution to the search for a sustainable alternative to animal leather.

 

With growing numbers of consumers and brands demanding sustainable leather alternatives, this has driven the emergence of numerous startups attempting to capture a new market for vegan bio-based leather alternative materials. Their materials aim to challenge both animal and plastic leathers for the full range of leather applications, and several fashion brands have begun to explore the utilization of vegan bio-based leather in their product lineup, such as Zara, Burberry, H&M, Hermes, Nike, and Ganni. Many have formed partnerships with the key market players producing vegan bio-based alternatives.

 

In this report, "Emerging Alternative Leathers 2024-2034: Technologies, Trends, Players", IDTechEx provides comprehensive independent analysis of the trajectory of the vegan bio-based leather market, covering all major market players and emerging technologies. Within the report, IDTechEx discusses and analyzes key brand partnerships formed between brands and vegan leather companies. For example, the report covers the interest in the emergence of vegan leather alternatives by automotive OEMs such as BMW, Bentley, Cupra, Hyundai, Mercedes-Bens, and Volkswagen.

 

 

With investments in alternative leather materials totaling over USD$1 billion, this is a rapidly developing technology landscape to monitor. Companies in the vegan bio-based leather market can be broadly divided into pursuing one of four major technology categories identified by IDTechEx:

 

 

Within this report, IDTechEx has identified over 70 companies developing vegan bio-based leather alternatives to animal and plastic leather. Most of these have emerged within the last 3-5 years and range from small exploratory startups to companies that have secured hundreds of millions in funding to begin scaling of production. Some strong market players in both mycelium leather and plant-based leather are at the precipice of scaling production and opening large scale factories for their materials.

 

The complex vegan bio-based leather market landscape has been comprehensively broken down with technologies analyzed and compared. IDTechEx has identified market leaders such as Von Holzhausen, MycoWorks, Piñatex, Desserto, and Ecovative among others and outlined prospects for each technology category. This analysis has been informed by IDTechEx's interview-based company profiles with market leaders and new entrants.

 

Through this assessment of the player landscape, IDTechEx expects market leaders to grow significantly while further new companies will continue to enter the sustainable vegan leather market due to its nascent stage and promising outlook.

 

 

The performance requirements of leather applications vary depending on their application. These applications are wide ranging and include footwear, fashion, apparel, upholstery, and automotive. Some bio-based leathers have met the standards and appearance requirements of incumbent leather, but there is scope across the industry for improved material properties.

 

IDTechEx's material benchmarking studies evaluated bio-based leather materials on factors such as price, material strength, durability, and appearance. The diverse market landscape contains a large array of available products which differ in material properties, and IDTechEx has comprehensively benchmarked these products to allow readers to understand the current status of these materials.

 

Additionally, when assessing these materials, consideration should be made of the technology readiness level and the ability to scale production. These will determine whether a company can become a choice material for consumers and manufacturers while remaining competitive on price. IDTechEx has considered the technology readiness level of many different companies from each bio-based leather type to assess the outlook for the industry.

 

 

Using extensive primary and secondary research, IDTechEx has constructed a 10-year market forecast for vegan bio-based leather where production capacity is expected to grow with a CAGR of 37.4% over the forecast period. The forecast is accompanied by commentary on the expected outlook for mycelium leather, plant-based leather, microbial leather and lab-grown leather.

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