UK-based sustainable fashion brand Luxtra teams up with Dutch company Fruitleather Rotterdam to make bags made of leftover mangoes and other fruit waste.

Each year, we throw away 1.3 billion tonnes of food worldwide, about a third of the total food production. From all fruit produced, we throw away nearly half, either by farmers because the pieces do not meet the cosmetic standards of supermarkets, or by consumers in developed countries.

Fruitleather Rotterdam was founded to bring attention to the food waste problem, but also to show that food waste can be used to create materials, like their own vegan leather alternative, made from waste mangoes. The fruitleather consists for up to 90 per cent of mangoes, can be made in any colour and is available with a variety of embossments.

Luxtra’s new line of bags is expected late March. The company is no stranger to fruit-based leather alternatives; earlier, they used Piñatex (made of waste pineapple leaves) and Frumat, made of apple waste.

Find Fruitleather in our collection here. For vegan leather alternatives, click here.

Photos: Luxtra / Fruitleather Rotterdam