Desserto is highly resistant in respect to tear and wear
With the purpose of creating an alternative to animal leather, Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez, both hailing from Mexico, developed a vegan alternative to leather made with nopal (a cactus), which they successfully showcased in October 2019 in Milan, Italy. The cactus-based material marketed under trade name Desserto has competitive features compared to animal or synthetic leather, like sustainability, performance and aesthetics. Co-founder Adrian Lopez Velarde speaks to Fibre2Fashion about the plant-based leather’s growth, applications and future plans.
Ever since the commercial production of Desserto, how has the company or brand grown?
Adriano Di Marti S.A. de C.V., the company behind the development of Desserto cactus based bio-materials as an alternative to leather for the fashion industry, and Deserttex for the automotive industry, has expanded its operations overseas. Desserto Europe S.r.l. is the name of the first overseas branch established at the heart of the fashion industry in Milan, Italy. Also, a new production unit has been established in Italy with the aim to cut down emissions from transportation, reduce costs and supply in a most efficient way to the European market.
What is your manufacturing capacity now?
Our capacity is 500,000 linear metres per month in Mexico, and 200,000 linear metres per month in Italy.
Besides fashion and accessories what new applications have Cactus leather garnered?
Recently Desserto is becoming popular for interior design (furniture) and footwear. On the other hand, automotive OEMs continue to grow their interest towards Deserttex, our automotive material line.
How has the vegan leather industry grown in the last five years?
In the last 5 years, the vegan leather market has grown significantly, nonetheless it is important to differentiate ‘vegan’ leather from ‘plant-based’ leather as not all vegan leather in the market is actually plant-based.
Where do majority of your buyers for Desserto hail from today?
We have buyers majorly from Asia, Europe and North America.
What are some interesting brands collaborations lined up at Desserto?
Our most recent collaboration is with Japanese fashion brand Onitsuka Tiger. The company has co-developed a new material with Desserto engineers that uses Mexican cactus fibres as the raw material for the upper in its Mexico 66 Cactful sneaker.
What kind of wear and tear can cactus leather sustain? Does it require special care like leather?
Desserto is highly organic and just like your skin it too requires care. The general principle is to regularly remove dirt with a soft, clean cloth and avoid using solvents. Desserto is highly resistant in respect to tear and wear.
Are you working towards developing newer vegan materials? If yes, please share details.
This year we are launching two innovations. One is in the form of yarns and the other is an alternative to leather like Desserto but upcycling a very exciting by-product of an important Mexican industry.
What are the future plans at Desserto?
This year we are focused on growing our operations in Europe and in the launch of our two new products. We want to continue to grow the sustainability consciousness in the industry through our responsible innovations to inspire change.
Published on: 18/01/2023
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
