# Flower-Based Leather Alternatives Phool's Cruelty-Free Alternative to Leather Upcycles Flowers By Laura McQuarrie | Published 2020-09-07 | Eco Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/cruelty-free-alternative-to-leather References: [vegnews](https://vegnews.com/2020/9/indian-startup-makes-vegan-leather-from-discarded-temple-flowers) & [phool.co](https://phool.co/) Since 2017, India-based start-up Phool has been making a variety of products from discarded temple flowers and it is now introducing "Fleather" as a cruelty-free alternative to leather made from the upcycled flowers. As co-founder Ankit Agarwal told the Hindustan Times, "Fleather is a viable alternative to animal leather. We convert floral waste into charcoal-free incense products. But last year, we decided to explore the development of animal-free leather." Notably, Phool discovered that flower leather contains chitin, which makes the vegan material a suitable substitute for animal skin. By working with unused piles of flowers, Phool created a material with a texture that's so strong and durable that it is said to rival traditional leather materials. Image Credit: VegNews ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 3.6/10 - Popularity: 54% | Activity: 46% | Freshness: 9% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial - Top markets: Asia ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Eco](https://www.trendhunter.com/eco) ## Key Themes ### What's Driving This Trend - **Flower-based Leather:** Opportunity to explore and develop cruelty-free alternatives to traditional animal leather using upcycled flowers. - **Vegan Leather:** Potential for disruptive innovation in the leather industry by creating a durable vegan material made from chitin found in flower leather. - **Circular Economy:** Opportunity to contribute to a circular economy by repurposing discarded temple flowers into valuable and sustainable leather alternatives. ### Who This Affects Most - **Fashion:** Innovation in the fashion industry through the production of cruelty-free leather products made from flower-based materials. - **Sustainable Manufacturing:** Industry potential to adopt sustainable manufacturing practices by utilizing upcycled flowers to create alternative leather materials. - **Home Décor:** Possibility to disrupt the home décor industry by introducing environmentally-friendly and cruelty-free flower-based leather products. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Cruelty-Free Leather Alternatives](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/crueltyfree-leather-alternative.md) - [Fruit-Based Leather Alternatives](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/peelsphere.md) - [Plant-Based Car Leather](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/leather-alternative-1.md) - [Mushroom Leather Seating Solutions](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mushroom-leather-seating.md) - [Plastic-Free Circular Bags](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/stella-mccartney-3.md) - [Plant-Based Fur Luxury Bags](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/biofluff.md) - [Mycelium Leather Bags](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/myco-travel-pouch.md) - [Eco-Minded Leather Variants](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/tata-international.md) - [Alt Leather Phone Cases](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/casetify-bioveg-collection.md)