US academic gets alligator leather grant
A university assistant professor of human ecology at Louisiana State University, US, has received a $107,000 grant from the Louisiana Alligator Council to promote the incorporation of lower-quality alligator leather into fashion.
Lisa McRoberts supports the use of alligator skins as an ecological solution. “From an ecological standpoint, we don’t want to waste them,” she told the University’s news website.
Grade No. 1 alligator leather is flawless, but according to Ms McRoberts, Grade No. 3 alligator leather is just as useable, and is more affordable.
Alligators are killed in Louisiana to maintain the ecological balance of the bayou. Although the meat is used, the skins are put aside or discarded. The assistant professor’s goal is to bring the product to the public eye.
The money spent to buy the alligator skins goes back to the Louisiana economy, which Ms McRoberts said was a reason she took on the project. She said the lower-grade skins can be sold as part of numerous products outside the fashion world, such as headboards and computer bags. “You can work around blemishes, cuts or bullet holes, or you can embrace them,” she said.
Two of the courses Ms McRoberts teaches encourage university students to do just that.
Along with the grant money, the Louisiana Alligator Council also pledged to donate 30 hides to Ms McRoberts’ project per year from 2010 to 2012.
Students use the leather to design clothing and find innovative uses for other products. Ms McRoberts shows her students how to work with alligator leather, instructing them how to sew it and lay it out. “Anything you can make with leather, you can make with alligator leather,” she said.
Kenneth Koonce, dean of the University’s College of Agriculture, said the alligator industry generated more than $32 million last year for Louisiana’s economy.
To showcase the potential of alligator leather, Ms McRoberts curated a fashion show in May, titled “Marsh on the Catwalk,” which featured her students’ alligator leather designs. A second fashion show is scheduled for later this year.
