Divya Verma from the National Institute of Design in India created an animal-free leather out of algae and food waste. She called the new textile Kudarat. Kudarat uses biopolymers from algae to waterproofing agents to stay binded together. Verma then used food and flower waste as dyes for the fabric. Not only does this material lasts as long as regular leather, but it biodegrades in 3 months if left outside. Verma’s new product won the runner-up James Dyson Award for India; it narrowly lost to a reusable EpiPen.

https://www.biofuelsdigest.com/bdigest/2022/09/12/leather-alternative-uses-algae-and-food-waste/