UK upcycled materials startup Arda Biomaterials and sustainable brand BEEN London announce the launch of their first product: a snakeskin-type handbag crafted with an animal- and plastic-free leather-like material called New Grain.
Arda’s New Grain, described as an extraordinary next-generation material, is developed from spent grain from breweries, sourced locally from London’s Bermondsey Beer Mile — once a leather tanning district.
“The New Grain™ handbag is just the beginning of what we can achieve together”
This launch marks New Grain’s first use of an external product, paving the way for its commercial scalability. The handbag, a version of BEEN’s bestselling MILLAIS bag, will be part of a future collection that includes wallets, laptop cases, and more bag styles.
Genia Mineeva, the founder of BEEN London, emphasised the partnership’s role in pioneering sustainable fashion. She added, “As a brand making premium products entirely from materials that would otherwise be discarded, we’re really excited about the possibilities of Arda’s innovation. The New Grain™ handbag is just the beginning of what we can achieve together.”
Next-gen materials
New Grain offers unique qualities like customizable patterns, thickness, colors, elasticity, flexibility, and even scents — features described as “unattainable by animal skins.” Moreover, regarding the material’s environmental benefits, the production of New Grain significantly reduces CO2 emissions by 97% compared to traditional leather. In addition, it eliminates harmful tanning processes and does not contribute to microplastic pollution.
“The concept bag is the culmination of continuous R&D”
To develop the new fashion item the companies received support from an £800K Innovate UK grant, with collaboration from R&D partners, including Queen Mary University of London and King’s College London.
CTO Edward Mitchell shares, “We’re extremely proud to see our partnership with BEEN materialize into the first tangible product made from New Grain™. The concept bag is the culmination of continuous R&D, where we experimented with various thicknesses, colors, patterns, material flexibility, designs, and more. BEEN’s expertise working with innovative materials enabled us to transform our next-gen material into a finished product in record time.”
A benchmark for the fashion industry
Founded in 2022 by Brett Cotten and Mitchell, Arda Biomaterials operates in a location near London Bridge in The Leather Market building. Last year, the young company raised £1.1 million in a funding round led by Clean Growth Fund. In 2023, Arda was shortlisted for the H&M Global Change Award, recognising planet-positive ideas that could transform fashion.
The startup states that this launch underscores the potential of innovative materials to match traditional options in quality and design, setting a new benchmark for the fashion industry.
Brett Cotten, CEO of Arda, added: “Launching this showpiece handbag with BEEN is a significant milestone for Arda. It demonstrates our ability to innovate and work toward commercializing high-quality materials that are not full of animals and plastic for consumers.”
