About Our Vegan Leathers

Delfina Saddlery is the first saddlery in the world to offer an alternative to traditional english tack made from leather or petroleum-byproducts. While most mass-produce biothane and PU tack, Delfina crafts each piece by hand out of Desserto®, Piñatex®, and Vegea® leathers. Read on for more information about these remarkable, sustainably-made, eco-leather products.

Desserto®

Desserto cactus leather was developed by Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez, founders of the Mexico-based company Adriano Di Marti. It is the world's first material made from the prickly pear cactus, and was created in 2019. The cacti are grown on a ranch in the Mexican state of Zacatecas, where they are harvested and converted into the leather-like material branded as "Desserto". Their 14 acre cactus farm is fully organic and absorbs 8,100 tons of CO2 each year, as cactus is a natural carbon sink. You've probably felt Desserto already, as it's used in the interiors of most luxury car brands, as well as products from Fossil and Adidas. Desserto® materials are partially biodegradable under anaerobic thermophilic conditions. The biodegradation percentage varies from material to material depending on its formulation. Desserto can also be recycled!

Desserto materials are vegan approved and certified.

 

Piñatex®

Piñatex leather is an advanced bio-material developed by Dr. Carmen Hijosa in the 90's. Dr. Hijosa spent many years in the design and manufacturing of leather goods before developing a product with a similar feel made from natural fibers. Her goal was to bridge the gap between leather and petroleum-based leathers (such as Bio-thane and other polyurethane materials) by focusing on processes that only enhance the overall health of the planet through every stage of the product's life. Her research lead her to use the fibers from waste leaves of pineapple plants, which are a by-product themselves of pineapple harvests, meaning the raw material required no additional environmental resources to produce. When combined with PLA (polylactic acid, which is a vegetable-based plastic material made from corn starch which comes from a renewable, waste-byproduct), the resultant material is biodegradable under controlled industry standards. Nike, H&M, and Hugo Boss utilize Piñatex in many of their products.

Piñatex is PETA approved and a registered brand with The Vegan Society.

Vegea®

In 2016, Italian furniture designer, Gianpiero Tessitore, and industrial chemist, Francesco Merlino, teamed up to form the Vegea Company. Formed from VEG (for vegan) and GEA (for Mother Earth), Vegea utilizes waste products from the Italian wine-making industry to create their Vegea leather flagship product. Using grape skins, stalks, and seeds, the resultant mixture is converted into technical fabrics and bio-leathers. Used across the globe by some of the world's leading brands such as H&M, Calvin Klein, Bentley, Stella McCartney, Maserati, Remy Martin, and Moleskine, Vegea is a top vegan, alternative, eco-leather. Not only is Vegea made from recycled materials, it can be recycled itself at the end of its useful life. 

Vegea is GRS (Global Recycled Standard) certified and complies with the most stringent European regulations (REACH). They are Made in Italy and certified animal-free.