When She Returned To School At The Age Of 50, She Finally Made Pineapple Leather.

In fashion circles, the rejection of fur has become a "political correctness".

People develop various environmental and natural materials to replace animal leather and practice the principle of "minimizing damage to the environment".

Pinatex is a newly developed artificial leather made from Pineapple leaves.

A pineapple has 30 to 40 leaves, and each leaf is about 1 meters long.

The production of a 1 square metre Pinatex leather requires 16 pineapples for 14 months in the manufacturing plants of Brazil, Thailand, Philippines, China, Kenya and Garner.

Nowadays, they are used to make fashions, bags, shoes and caps.

From Pineapple leaves to artificial leather, Carmen Hinojosa spent 7 years.

With the invention of pineapple leaf leather, Carmen was awarded the "innovation material" award from the British arts foundation.

At the same time, she was also the winner of the 2015 Cartire women's Promotion Award and PETA (PETA) Vegan Fashion Awards in 2015.

Carmen had already worked in Irish leather manufacturing for more than 15 years before finishing his life.

At the age of 26, she had owned her own company and became a leather merchant.

Years of work experience gave her an understanding of the devastation and destruction of leather products.

This destruction is manifold, not only for cruel killing of animals, but also for the destruction of human health and ecological environment by a large number of chemical preparations.

An invitation in 90s of last century changed her.

Carmen was invited to Philippines to develop new products.

She gradually realized that leather is not a sustainable material. "As a maker, I have to do something to find a substitute."

In Philippines, she found a kind of local

Barong talong, made of fiber from Pineapple leaves.

This kind of fiber is also known as "pineapple silk". Its handle is like silk, its appearance is white, flexible and elastic.

It is made of clothes that absorb sweat, breathe and wear comfortably.

In 2015, the APEC conference was held in Manila, Philippines, where leaders wore traditional "pineapple silk" traditional costumes.

Most importantly, it is related to

The characteristics are very similar.

Carmen thought, why not?

Instead of animal leather, the appearance of pineapple leaf fibers has given her a new hope. "They may solve those problems and become new leather alternatives."

In Philippines, farmers harvest pineapples and Pineapple leaves are thrown away as garbage.

Compared with the genuine leather, the production of Pinatex can not kill animals or cause pollution. "As a by-product of pineapple, we do not need any extra cost."

At that time, Carmen was 50 years old. Obviously she did not want to give up this wonderful idea, so she decided to return to campus.

She first went to the National Institute of art and design in Ireland, and worked with young people to pursue a bachelor's and master's degree in textile studies.

She did not let go of any opportunity to learn. The first one in the class enrolled in the knitting factory as an apprentice.

Others feel that it is the work of exploiting labor force, but she enjoys it and thinks she has learned her skills.

7 years later, the first "pineapple leather" sample was born.

Carmen has gone through numerous failures and finally completed his master's graduation work.

This small sample is the first step to achieve mass production.

Carmen, who is 57 years old, has made an application for the doctoral degree in textile science at Royal College of Art, and officially began the research and development of pineapple leather.

In 2013, Carmen, 63, had his own team, set up a company, and even worked with front-line fashion brands to bring pineapple leaf leather Pinatex to the market.

"We are brand new, not to replace animal leather, but to provide another option."

Carmen said.