German leather manufacturer Heller-Leder has set up a new joint venture with bio-materials developer Modern Meadow.

The new operation, Innovera Europe, will use Heller-Leder’s tanning facilities to produce Innovera, a non-leather product that Modern Meadow has developed using plant-based proteins, biopolymers and recycled rubber.

Heller-Leder chief executive, Frank Fiedler, said this operation would “integrate seamlessly into existing leather workflows”.

Modern Meadow has said it can supply semi-finished material its calls Dry White for tanning partners to process into Innovera. It has said it intends to start producing Dry White at a new facility in Europe in the course of 2026.

Image: Heller-Leder/Ulf Salzmann.

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