Anya Hindmarch introduces biodegradable leather bags
English fashion designer Anya Hindmarch, of ‘I Am a Plastic Bag’ handbag fame, has opened pre-orders for a range of fully biodegradable leather bags from her eponymous brand following more than two years of research and disintegration experiments.
The collection is called Return to Nature and will be available from October 22 at the label’s The Village concept in London, plus via luxury e-tailer Matches Fashion.
Partly inspired by the activism of fashion model and sustainability champion Arizona Muse (pictured) - whose biodynamic farming charity, Dirt, will receive £10 or almost $14 for every article sold from the collection - and partly motivated by a rethinking of her own recycled plastic products, Ms Hindmarch crystalised her thought process by rhetorically asking the Business of Fashion: “Why are we making things that don’t naturally break down?”
A traceable supply chain involving Swedish cattle farmers, a German tannery and Spanish leathergoods artisans ensued, the result of which is an unlined, hardware-free and (biodegradable) cotton-stitched leather capsule, made without the use of heavy metals, chrome or aldehyde and finished with “liquid silk”.
Each piece in the collection has also been hand-coated with a wax made from natural oils, which will require reapplication over the course of each item’s useful life.
Image: Anya Hindmarch.
