Shoes and bags made from tomatoes! That’s exactly what got The Bio Company (TBC) the Best Innovation in Textile at the PETA Vegan Fashion Awards in 2021. As bioleather — a type of leather made from plant materials — gains popularity, Pritesh Mistry, the 26-year-old founder of The Bio Company has innovated a way to turn tomato waste into . Using tomatoes as the primary raw material, combined with a process free of polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), TBC, under the brand ‘Bioleather’, offers a completely to leather with the added benefit of not having to harm any animals.
Why tomatoes? “India, being the second-largest producer of tomatoes with about 44 million tons produced annually, faces the challenge of 30-35% of it going to waste,” Mistry says, explaining why he chose the fruit. “This waste, primarily in the form of skin and seeds, provides a sustainable raw material for Bioleather,” he adds. Additionally, Mistry says that tomatoes are rich in pectin, a natural polymer that enhances flexibility and strength.
Their fibrous structure and natural oils help create a leather-like texture while ensuring biodegradability. “By utilising tomatoes, we address both and pollution, transforming an overlooked by-product into a valuable, eco-friendly material,” he informs. With a bachelor’s in biotechnology from Mumbai-based Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, Mistry’s quest to create bioleather from tomatoes had started as a final-year project that.
