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Could This Circular Textile Put Conventional Leather Out to Pasture?

Modern Meadow’s Bio-VERA™ is a high-performance, upcycled alternative to traditional bovine leather with significantly lower environmental and supply chain impacts.

New Jersey-based materials-science company Modern Meadow is on a mission to solve challenges for multiple industries with its circular and bio-inspired alternatives to industry-standard materials.

By rapidly developing versatile, bio-based alternatives to common, conventional materials; Modern Meadow hopes to quickly reduce reliance on petrochemical and animal inputs across industries, while giving brands and manufacturers sustainable options for designing and engineering next-generation products.

And hot on the heels of the fashion industry’s Deforestation-Free Call to Action for Leather comes Modern Meadow’s latest innovation, Bio-VERA™ — a high-performance, upcycled alternative to traditional bovine leather with significantly lower environmental and supply chain impacts.

Bio-VERA is engineered using Modern Meadow's Bio-Alloy™ protein/bio-based polymer miscible blend, which combines plant-based proteins with bio-based polymers to give a material the functionality of proteins. Combining its Bio-Alloy technology with a 100% renewable material — made using a feedstock of post-consumer car tires — creates Bio-VERA.

The new leather alternative offers a high-performance product that can be delivered to tanneries without the need for costly hide-preparation steps or actual tanning. Tanners can apply the same finishing processes they always have — including wet finishing, dry finishing, coloring, dyeing and grain correction — but without animal inputs or many of the negative environmental impacts associated with tanning.

"The hybrid structure of our product gives it superior performance without sacrificing the beauty and time-proven quality associated with leather," says Jeff Smith, Modern Meadow's GM of Biomaterials. “It also gives tanners a superior material to work with; there is no trade-off in terms of performance, and the major environmental impacts are eliminated.”

To ensure Bio-VERA meets or exceeds the performance requirements of multiple industries, Modern Meadow conducts extensive internal and external materials-performance testing to evaluate factors such as strength, durability, colorfastness and aging characteristics. The results have shown that Bio-VERA performs on par with, or even surpasses, animal leather — providing a sustainable alternative without compromising quality or performance.

Additionally, because Bio-VERA is made from feedstock sourced from post-consumer and bio-based polymers, partners know that the material is free of virgin plastic — reducing reliance on fossil fuels, advancing circularity of materials, and minimizing the overall environmental impacts.

"Bio-VERA provides a path for tanneries and brands to eliminate use of toxic chemicals like chrome used in tanning leather, while maximizing the use of bio-based and circular materials,” said Ann Lee-Jeffs, Senior Director of Sustainability for Modern Meadow.

This includes an exciting new relationship with BASF to supply high-quality, polymers for Bio-VERA.

"This strategic collaboration will bring together the cutting-edge biofabrication expertise of Modern Meadow with BASF's renowned Ultramid® Cycled® material; paving the way for the creation of many modern, sustainable and animal-free materials — including Bio-VERA," said Modern Meadow Chief Science & Technology Officer David Williamson.

Bio-VERA will enter markets in early 2024, with current-use cases and partnership opportunities in the accessories, footwear and automotive industries.

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