Chew this over: Food waste could be the answer to alternative fabrics

Sustainability is something that most of us would happily raise a glass to.

But what if the beer in that glass was the very substance that could solve a pressing environmental problem?

That’s the concept behind Arda Biomaterials, a London startup that just raised a $5.3m seed round to produce plastic and leather alternatives, per AgFunderNews:

• Arda uses a proprietary supramolecular process to extract proteins from spent grain left behind from the beer- and whiskey-making process.
• Those proteins are then reworked to mimic the structure of animal proteins, producing New Grain, a textile that looks and feels a whole lot like leather.

Different beers can produce different leather looks: The roasted barley from a stout like Guinness makes for a convincing black leather, while IPAs are perfect for shades of brown.

Making leather from scratch… 

… means Arda can skip the tanning process, reducing the use of harmful chemicals and cutting back on production time.

While the startup is currently sourcing raw materials from Anheuser-Busch facilities near London, Arda plans to use its latest fundraising round to build a manufacturing facility 5x bigger than its current one.

The startup’s founders told AgFunderNews that working with just one major brewery in a single facility could produce 5m-10m meters of material.

Arda isn’t the only startup…

… looking for alternative sources for textile production.

• Companies like MycoWorks, Hydefy, and Ecovative have partnered with major fashion brands to make biodegradable “leather” from mushrooms — a market predicted to reach $336m by 2033.
• Alt. Leather created a plastic-free leather alternative made from plants.

And outside of leather, companies like Alt Tex are using food waste to create polyester alternatives.

None of this piquing your interest? Perhaps a purse made from biodegradable T. rex skin will make you bat an eye.