Material, process and development of a novel composite, layered, plastic-free leather alternative derived from waste brewery grain

This application is focused on the development of a sustainably produced leather alternative. The leather we consume today is the net result of a long chain of carbon intensive steps associated with animal agriculture, including animal rearing, leather harvesting, tanning, and processing. A sustainable leather alternative that removes the need for animal agriculture would make a significant contribution to climate change in addition to having a clear impact on animal welfare.

The applicants are a recently formed company that is commercialising exciting research that has shown that it is possible to produce synthetic leather from the waste grain produced from beer brewing --- a by-product that is typically used as low value animal feed. This in effect takes a waste material from an existing and ubiquitous industrial process (i.e., the brewer's spent grain), omits the 'growing of the animal stage' and produces a synthetic leather. By omitting the animal growth phase this synthetic leather is estimated to have only 0.3% of the carbon footprint than conventional leathers have.

The Arda team has conducted the first stage of proof of concept research and they've been able to produce small samples of synthetic leather from the waste brewing grain. The material looks like normal leather but it's not sufficiently strong enough to be made into functional clothing or products. Crucially the material lacks the tensile or fibrous strength of natural leathers. Arda aim is to expand the scope of our research and develop a process that introduces very fine sustainability produced protein fibres into a layer within this synthetic leather. This will have the substantial benefit of enhancing the strength of the leather while not diminishing the sustainable origins of the material.

If the business is able to strengthen the synthetic leather in this way and scale for greater material production, Arda already has brewery suppliers and fashion customers waiting to be part of the supply chain for this new material.

The enclosed funding application is focused on a programme of Industrial Research needed to develop, scale and evaluate the performance of this "composite" synthetic leather.