Bacterial Cellulose Product Development: Comparing Leather and Leather Alternatives

Leather making has been practiced for millennia. Worldwide demand for leather often outstrips supply. Additionally, the processing of animal leather creates waste due to the use of liming chemicals in the de-hairing and unwanted subcutaneous layers removal procedure. Vegan leather made of bacterial cellulose (BC) requires little land, water and chemicals to process. The product development process guiding this project was adapted from May-Plumlee & Little, 1999 and Davis & Sanders, 2014. Global consumer base who identify as vegan has grown 61% from 2014 to 2017. White color removed the possibility of color bias influencing judgment of the materials. Using flat pattern techniques, ottoman covers were modified in order to accommodate the BC. Preliminary pricing estimates put the BC ottoman at approximately twice that of traditional leather and eight times that of imitation leather. No sewing issues were noted with either the imitation leather or bacterial cellulose vegan leather.