“This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet”—Barack Obama once said. Even though saving the planet can sound like a huge and quite vague concept, there’s always a small step that each of us can take. Though some people prefer going big (and not going home). And when they do so, they manage to invent something entirely innovative that leaves the rest of us totally fascinated. We're talking about two entrepreneurs from México—Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez—who developed a method of transforming cacti into vegan leather that looks and feels exactly like the real thing.
Image credits: desserto.com
Adrian and Marte were working in the fashion and furniture automotive industries when they realized that environmental pollution is a serious problem and got inspired to do something about it.
Friends left their jobs and decided to dedicate a few of their upcoming years to come up with something amazing that would have the potential to change the world. It took them about two whole years until they finally finished creating their marketable cactus leather in July 2019.
Image credits: desserto.pelle
Why cactus, you ask? The answer is simple—this plant doesn't need much water to grow, it's super resilient and strong and it can handle low temperatures without dying. Besides, it's México so there's plenty of cacti there.
Image credits: desserto.pelle
The vegan leather these guys create is called "Desserto" and it's the world's first environmentally friendly organic material made out of Nopal cactus.
Image credits: desserto.pelle
This material is considered to be highly sustainable and without any toxic chemicals. Besides, the company offers a large variety of colors, thicknesses, and textures.
Image credits: desserto.pelle
Adrian and Marte grow their cactus in a ranch which is located in the state of Zacatecas.
Image credits: desserto.pelle
First of all, they find and cut mature leaves of the plant, clean it, mash it, then dry it under the sun for three days, after that they proceed to process it so the material can later become a part of their patented vegan leather formula.
Image credits: desserto.pelle
One of the best things about this vegan material is that it looks and feels exactly like real leather. It's elastic, breathable, and highly customizable. Anything, that can be made out of classic leather can also be made out of the "Desserto" vegan leather.
Image credits: desserto.pelle
Image credits: desserto.pelle
Image credits: desserto.pelle
People on the Internet seem to really like this idea
