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These Guys Can Make “Leather” Out of Cactus Leaves to Help Save the Environment

Image Credit: Instagram

If scientists literally all around the world are to be believed, the environment is tanking in a hurry. The bad news is that the majority of international leadership doesn’t seem to be able to hear the alarm bells, but the good news is there are citizens everywhere are stepping up in myriad ways to solve different sets of problems.

One of many issues that’s leading to trouble with our planet is the stress that so many herd cattle put on our resources, and the amounts of methane their poop releases into the atmosphere. Those are just two of the reasons vegans prefer not to eat beef or buy things – like leather – that are also by-products of raising cattle for slaughter.

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Work with nature, not against it 🌵🌎#10002 #desserto #veganleather

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Two entrepreneurs from Mexico, Adrián López Velarde and his friend, Marte Cázarez, came together from separate industries to solve the problem of leather production…with cacti.

The friends left their jobs in fashion and furniture automotive to dedicate a few years to come up with the idea and the process for transforming cacti into usable vegan leather. It took two whole years before they came out with something they felt was marketable in 2019.

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Cactus is green, so is the future 🌵🌍🌞 #carbonfootprintreduction #solarium #cactusleather #circulareconomy

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Cacti are a good choice because they don’t put much strain on the environment – they don’t require much water to grow and can thrive in a wide range of temperatures. They’re also very prevalent in Mexico, where the two live.

They call their vegan leather “Desserto,” and it’s the first environmentally friendly organic material made from the Nopal cactus. It’s highly sustainable and doesn’t contain any toxic chemicals, comes in a wide variety of colors, thicknesses, textures, and honestly looks and feels like the real thing.

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The story tells that at the end of the horizon where the last ray of the sun touch in the desert, the dunes dance in silence at the rhythm of the wind. The cactus, the strongest, noblely let one of its leafs fall to whom is blissful before the eyes of the desert to care for a part of him as its own 🌵 #desserto #veganleather #peta

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The cactus “leather” is made by cutting mature leaves from the plants before cleaning, mashing, and drying them under the sun for three days. Then the material is processed into their patented (and secret!) formula.

Anything that’s normally made from cow leather can be made from Desserto. It’s elastic, breathable, highly customizable, and honestly, I don’t see one single reason this can’t take the place of cow’s leather completely in the future.

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🌵A COLLECTION INSPIRED IN THE DESERT🌵 10004 DESSERTO RED TUNA www.desserto.com.mx

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If you’ve got an idea on how to help save the environment, one issue at a time, follow in Adrián and Marte’s footsteps, will you?

Because it’s looking more and more like the citizens of the world are going to have to save the planet ourselves.