The materials developer formerly known as ELeather has a new name and $18 million in fresh growth funding from some of the world\u2019s fanciest brands.<\/p>\n
Now going by Generation Phoenix<\/a>, the upcycler says its new investors include Coach parent Tapestry, Jaguar Land Rover and Dr. Martens, plus lead investor Material Impact<\/a> and prior investor Herm\u00e8s.<\/p>\n The 15-year-old firm is based in Peterborough, U.K. and has worked with brands such as Nike and Delta<\/a>. The upcycler intends to use the new cash to expand \u201cinto the luxury fashion and footwear categories,\u201d Gen Phoenix said in a statement. The company claims it has diverted more than 8,000 tons of leather waste from landfills to date.<\/p>\n \u201cImagine what can happen when waste is no longer wasted,\u201d Gen Phoenix says in an aspirational message on its new website. The upcycler tells TechCrunch that its \u201cfeedstock comes directly from tanneries where about 1\/3 of a leather hide is typically discarded.\u201d Turning the leather waste into a usable, leather-like product involves shredding and \u201centangling\u201d it \u201caround a high-performance core using nothing but high pressure water,\u201d the firm said.<\/p>\n Gen Phoenix\u2019s \u201crecycled leather\u201d is not entirely made of recycled materials. A spokesperson for the company tells TechCrunch that its products feature \u201cup to 86% recycled content,\u201d including recycled leather and recycled plastic. Still, the firm\u2019s final product also contains virgin plastic.<\/p>\n Gen Phoenix founder and CEO John Kennedy explaining the company\u2019s leather-like product.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Without sharing a specific deadline, a spokesperson for Gen Phoenix said the company aims to \u201creduce and eliminate virgin materials from their products completely.\u201d<\/p>\n The upcycler is also \u201ccommercialising a bio-based coating system and bio-based substitutions for any synthetic materials used in the process,\u201d the spokesperson added. Hopefully, we\u2019ll soon see Gen Phoenix kick virgin materials altogether.<\/p>\n Zooming out: Gen Phoenix\u2019s inclusion of plastics is hardly unusual, even for \u201csustainable\u201d brands. Fossil fuel-based materials permeate<\/a> the fashion business. Polyester? Nylon? Elastane? All plastic.<\/p>\n Even the rise of recycled plastic fabrics<\/a> warrants deep skepticism; the resulting synthetic clothing is rarely recycled, and the microplastics they shed go basically everywhere<\/a>, including the ocean, mountain tops<\/a>, the insides of sea critters and even our own bodies. Addressing the industry\u2019s climate and broader environmental toll demands rethinking everything, from how we dye fabrics<\/a> to killing \u201cfast fashion\u201d altogether<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Gen](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/unnamed-1.jpg?w=680\")
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