Its name is Desserto, but it has flourishing ideas, the Mexican company that patented a material similar to traditional leather but entirely plant-based, partially biodegradable, and with a reduced environmental impact. Obtained from cactus leaves, it is the result of the effort and vision of Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez, entrepreneurs who, to carry out their project to find a valuable alternative to leather, did not hesitate to leave their respective careers focusing on the search for raw materials starting from those provided by their territory: ‘Mexico,’ they said, ‘is the largest producer and exporter of cacti in the world, a plant that grows very quickly, without the need for irrigation or herbicides or pesticides.’
From this realization they started a series of steps that converged in the management of a two-hectare organic plantation in Guadalajara. To support them in continuing their business, in addition to certifications, a series of awards and prizes such as the Green Product Award in the Material category and the sustainability award conferred by the Monte Carlo Fashion Week, and second place with special mention at the Lvmh Innovation Award. The next objectives, they revealed, concern the luxury industry: ‘We are developing projects with several brands of the French luxury conglomerate.’ ‘A project of guaranteed value because it promotes sustainability in its footsteps. A philosophy that we have always shared and that we carry out with various concrete actions supported by the strength of working with a natural product in its DNA – wool’, said Lincoln Germanetti, CEO of Tollegno 1900.
