vegan leather

Stephanie Downs. Image supplied.
Opinion

Op Ed: Stephanie Downs – Why Sustainable Fashion is Turning to Farming for Material Innovation

Stephanie Downs, CEO of UNCAGED Innovations, is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience and a leading expert in animal-free material alternatives for the fashion and automotive industries. In 2020, she co-founded UNCAGED Innovations with Dr. Xiaokun Wang, pioneering sustainable leather alternatives made from grains at scale. The company is currently developing prototypes for global high-fashion brands and automotive leaders such as Jaguar Land Rover. In this op-ed, Stephanie discusses the growing shift toward bio-based materials in fashion and how the industry is turning to farming for sustainable material innovation. She explores the role of agricultural by-products in creating next-generation alternatives to traditional leather, highlighting the economic opportunities for farmers and the environmental benefits of moving beyond plastic-based vegan materials. Why Sustainable Fashion …

more

Uncaged Innovations closes seed round for leather made from grain

© UNCAGED Innovations

Investments & Finance

UNCAGED Innovations Raises $5.6M for “World’s First” Sustainable Leather from Grains

New York-based UNCAGED Innovations today announces it has raised an oversubscribed $5.6M Seed investment for its sustainable leather made from grains. The round was co-led by Green Circle Foodtech Ventures and Fall Line Capital, with participation from Ponderosa Ventures, Golden Seeds, and existing investor InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of JLR (Jaguar Land Rover). This investment will be used to bring the product to market, increase production, and expand the team. The latest capital follows the company’s 2023 pre-seed round in which UNCAGED secured $2 million. Director and Head of Sustainability at JLR Rossella Cardone commented at the time, “This is in-line with our strategy on the sustainability and provenance of the materials we use. We must embrace new material possibilities, new processes, and new …

more

Organisations and brands:

Stephanie Downs UNCAGED Innovations

Stephanie Downs. Image supplied.

Opinion

Op Ed: Stephanie Downs, CEO and Co-Founder of UNCAGED Innovations, Combatting the Argument that Leather is “Natural”

Stephanie Downs is the CEO and Co-Founder of UNCAGED Innovations, the “world’s first” biomaterial company to create sustainable leather from grains at scale. Combining its proprietary software platform, BioFuze, with biomaterial manufacturing, UNCAGED skips the cow to create an animal-free leather product that mimics the texture and performance of traditional leather. Stephanie herself is a serial entrepreneur, founding her first company –a digital marketing agency– in 1999, which she led to exit in 2014. In 2008, Downs held a pivotal role in PETA, where she consulted on corporate negotiations. It was during this time that her negotiations with Tesla led to Elon Musk’s blanket adoption of alternative animal-free leather in its interiors. After this, Stephanie co-founded Good Dot, India’s largest plant-based meat alternative company, and …

more

Organisations and brands: