3DBT has signed a memorandum of understanding with Maison Amelie Pichard, a fashion company that designs and makes products using environmentally friendly materials.
The collaboration will explore future commercial opportunities, working together to develop, manufacture, and ultimately sell fashion accessories that incorporate lab-grown leather. This is a milestone event, marking the first-time real lab-grown leather has been ethically produced for the fashion industry using the same structures as traditional leather, without the need for plant-based scaffolds, making it suitable for traditional craft purposes.
Amelie Pichard's business model is based around sustainability, making batches of bags and shoes on demand only when prior batches have sold out to minimise waste and repairing and reselling products to maximise their lifetime. Using a plethora of materials, such as eel Leather, upcycled denim, natural cork, cactus, pinatex (pineapple leaves), and, with 3DBT, lab-grown leather, Amelie Pichard seeks to work with the most future-proofed and environmentally friendly options for materials.
The collaboration is seeking to reduce reliance on leather in its products rather than eliminate the use, therefore incorporating elements of lab-grown leather within the production process. BSF will work to develop many different products that can be used both in production and in repair for resale, enabling more rapid improvement in the development process.
As reported in its recent strategic update, BSF Enterprise (the investment company behind 3DBT) expects to establish its lab-grown leather offering as a separate subsidiary company, Lab-Grown Leather Limited, in H2 2024. This will enable the development and sales of its animal skin products to be scaled up to meet the substantial market opportunity. The leather goods market was valued at $253 billion in 2023 and is forecast to grow to $405 billion by 2030.
The Company is also in the process of building a leather tanning capability within its laboratory at Newcastle. A further announcement will be made in due course, providing details on the leather tanning capabilities, alongside an update on other ongoing previously announced partnerships and proposed future commercial opportunities.
Amelie Pichard, Founder and Creative Director of the Company said: "I drew a lot of inspiration from the farming world of yesteryear to give my company a different approach to fashion. A direct sale, a company on a human scale, a de-standardization, a sustainability of craftsmanship, a natural rhythm. For me, using natural, laboratory-grown leather that doesn't harm animals or the planet represents technology at the service of good Innovation. I'm delighted to be able to create a real bridge between innovation and tradition with this first lab-grown-leather goods item."
Che Connon, Managing Director of BSF Enterprise and CEO of 3DBT, commented: "We are delighted to be collaborating with a company that has led the way in environmentally friendly fashion. Utilising lab-grown leather is an inevitable next step for the fashion industry if it is to create a sustainable future and it is extremely exciting to be working toward being the first at doing this. We look forward to providing further updates on the progress of this partnership in due course."