Faircraft, which is pioneering lab-grown leather, has closed a €15 million Series A fundraising round. The round was backed by a range of international funds including Entrepreneur First and Blue Wire Capital in the UK, Kindred Ventures and Heirloom from the USA, Cap Horn, BPI and Alliance for Impact in France, and Sake Bosch in the Netherlands. Faircraft will use the funding to support the expansion of its team and scale to meet the growing demand for lab-grown leather.
TFN asked Faircraft’s co-founder and CEO Haïkel Balti about their product and the enormous difference they hope to make to both fashion and the environment.
Making leather that works for everyone
Founded in 2021 by Balti and his co-founder, César Valencia Gallardo, Faircraft combined the founders’ experience in materials science and biology to develop its multi-patented lab-grown leather.
With Faircraft’s Parisian base, its focus on the type of high-quality product used by fashion houses is not surprising. Although they are aiming to bring the price of lab-grown leather to that of animal skin, they believe their main competitive advantage will be in the quality their leather brings.
Their 20-strong multinational team — which boasts nine PhDs — is focused on that mission. “Our objective is not to compete with traditional leather on price,” Balti explained. “Instead, we strive to deliver a material that excels in functionality, offers unparalleled sensory qualities, and consistently achieves exceptional and reliable standards of quality, to make it the preferred choice.”
The result is a product that is, essentially, leather, just without the environmental and ethical negatives of animal leather. “The lab-grown leather process involves four key steps,” Balti explains, “cell sourcing, cell cultivation, scaffold structuring, and tanning and finishing.” In simple terms, cells are encouraged to multiply using specific structures, or scaffolds, before undergoing traditional treatments to ready them for use.
Lab-grown leather can even be grown for the specific use required. “Since the process replicates natural skin,” Balti explained, “it can be customised for different styles, such as luxury, durable, or lightweight leather, catering to a wide range of applications.”
Bringing sustainability to luxury
The ability to grow leather at scale from a small cell sample allows Faircraft to offer a sustainable alternative to traditional leather. However, this is done without sacrificing traditional quality, benefits, and aesthetic appeal of leather. The tanning process, for example, uses the same master tanners that previously worked on luxury leather goods.
The technique also has significant environmental benefits, resulting in 90% lower CO₂ emissions, 95% less waste, and 80% less water use compared to conventional leather production. With luxury brands as keen to demonstrate their environmental credentials as they are to showcase their designs, it has resulted in Faircraft developing partnerships with several major brands.
“Lab-grown leather production is far more efficient,” Balti told us. “A single square metre of lab space can produce 100 square metres of leather, compared to extensive grazing land needed for traditional leather.” It’s also faster, with lab-grown leather’s timescales measured in weeks, rather than the years spent raising cattle. Balti continued, “our lab-grown leather significantly lessens the environmental footprint associated with traditional leather. This contributes to global climate goals and helps preserve natural ecosystems for future generations.”
Combining innovation and heritage
The concept of artificially grown animal products has been gaining ground recently, driven by environmental and ethical concerns about the sometimes industrial nature of farming.
Balti recognises those concerns and highlights the advantages that Faircraft offers.
“Each year, millions of animals are slaughtered globally for their hides,” he said. “The conditions in which these animals are raised vary widely,” he added, “but they often involve significant environmental costs, including deforestation for grazing land, methane emissions, and water usage.”
However, he says Faircraft’s approach will also bring social benefits. “Faircraft supports local industries and sustains jobs, bridging innovation and heritage,” he told us. “Our process is designed to integrate seamlessly with the skills and expertise of traditional tanners and leather goods manufacturers, ensuring their craftsmanship remains central to the production process.”
By creating a product that reduces the environmental cost and ethical concerns of animal products, offers the potential of exciting customised materials for brands, and working with centuries-old industries, Balti believes that Faircraft offers an exciting product for craftspeople, brands, and consumers. “It enables the creation of unique pieces with minimal environmental impact, while offering new possibilities to leather artisans and designers,” Balti explained. “This technological breakthrough is a tribute to the magic of life.”
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