Chelsea, I have never used this source before,
but we could use some good news. I love it. So
we're going to use some good news. Oh, good.
This is WRAL .com, written on October 14th, 2025,
written by Liz McLaughlin. Article title, lab
-grown leather from a living cow could change
the fashion industry. It's like the brains, but
different. The wallet in George Engelmeier's
hand looks unremarkable, tan textured, a little
stiff at the edges. The story behind it is anything
but. It was grown in a North Carolina lab from
the skin cells of a cow named Angel who was very
much alive grazing in an animal sanctuary in
upstate New York. Engelmeier, a biomedical engineer
who founded Cultivated Biomaterials in the Raleigh
area, is already selling jewelry in late with
what he calls cultivated leather. prototype small
goods like wallets. With this Kickstarter as
a springboard, he says the company's next targets
are watch bands and eventually handbags as the
material strengthens and flexibility improves.
Quote, this is the first time in history that
a cow has lived to see leather grown from her
own cell. End quote. Engelmayer said holding
a sheet of tissue that had just finished the
first step of tannin. Quote, Angel is still alive
and doing amazing. End quote. Angel is a rescued
Black Angus at Sweet Farm, a non -profit sanctuary.
In January, Engelmeyer visited with a pouch made
from Angel's cells and held it up for the bovine
to inspect. Oh, that's sweet. The moment that
the company... Is that sweet or is that kind
of like, I don't know, a little psychotic? A
little bit, but she's alive and well, so I'm
currently mind -wrestling myself over what I
think about, but I think it's nice. I'm thinking
- I'm leaning towards it's nice. I'm still torn
if it's - that wouldn't be vegan, right? Because
it's still made from animal products. It wouldn't
be vegan, however - It would be vegetarian, in
theory. I see no problems with it. So far, so
far. I could be wildly wrong on that first feel
I'm getting from it. I would actually - like
somebody who's more in depth in vegan understanding
- I would like to ask them what they thought
of this, whether the animal is still on a farm.
I do feel like vegan would be no, because it
is an animal product. However, it's not compromising
the health or happiness of that animal in the
least. No, and that's why, like... Because with
bees too, like some people think that honey is
vegan, but others think it's not. It depends
on what your opinion is on like making an animal
work versus not. Yeah, and this one's not making
it work. It's just literally taking itself from
what I'm... Just existing. But it's existing
on a farm, which I always am curious of with
the vegans. Yeah, I mean cows wouldn't really
successfully thrive outside of a farm, I don't
think. You say that, but we've talked about the
Oryx, it's a beautiful animal. That's true, that's
true. And they're all, like, stomping their hooves
and squealing. I know the reference, but I cannot
remember what episode it is. Dear Matt, of course.
You said your lover is dead. The romance novel
of cryptids. How could you forget? Sweet Farms
founder has publicly cheered the experiment,
framing it as a glimpse of a slaughter -free
future for luxury goods. Inside a small rally
workspace, Engelmeyer grows angels' cells on
airy plant -based mats called scaffolds, made
from fibers like capic, milkweed, and dandelion
fluff. The cells secrete collagen the protein
that gives animal hides their strength. After
several weeks the tissue is vegetable tanned
using powder derived from tree bark such as mimosa
and sumac, avoiding the chromium salt widely
used in conventional tanning. The finished slivers
are set into sterling silver bezels and sealed
beneath a glass cabochon. The effect is closer
to a specimen than a swatch. A biological gemstone,
Engelmeier likes to say. He's not the first to
chase lab -grown or next -gen leather. Startups
have experimented with mycelium mushroom roots,
bacterial cellulose, and collagen produced in
tanks by engineered microbes. A few have shown
couture -ready prototypes, but durability and
cost have been the sticking point. Engelmeier's
claim to novelty is narrower. He says he is the
first to sell a cultivated leather product grown
from the cells of a living sanctuary cow to offer
it directly to consumers. Leather's environmental
ledger is complicated. Hides are a byproduct
of meat and dairy, but life cycle studies consistently
tie leather to high climate and water impact
because it's linked to livestock and emissions
and resource use and because many tanneries still
rely on toxic chemicals. Yeah, you're not getting
the byproduct to make leather until the cow is
dead. I think that's fairly easy to say, given
all of the repercussions on it. Yeah. And I wonder
about the vegan thing as well, because it is
happy living on a, like, it's been rescued, it
said. So it's very happy. It's living a good
life. So maybe it would be vegan. Well, not only
that, once that animal... dies. I'm assuming
they're going to keep cultivating that same animal's
skin cells. So maybe then it becomes not vegan.
Yeah no I'm one I'm actually I think once the
animal dies into like we don't have to worry
about whether or not it's being farmed for it's
like usage, it becomes easier to say it is vegan.
Engelmeyer cites analyses suggesting cultivated
leather could use up to 80 % less water and generate
90 % fewer emissions, while acknowledging that
his own operations have been yet undergone an
independent life cycle assessment. Water is used
in our process, they said, but we can recycle
it. That's one of the key distinctions. Independent
experts say that while those figures are plausible,
the gains will depend on the source of the nutrients
that feed the cells and the energy -powering
bioreactors. For now, the experiment remains
small, more proof of concept than climate panacea,
but it points towards a less destructive way
to meet global demand for leather, which industry
analysts value at more than $400 billion. ear.
And I just want to point out, it doesn't really
matter how much we curtail the demand for leather,
especially cow leather, if we don't curtail the
demand for cow meat. Yeah. Because whether or
not we have a demand for cow leather, if it doesn't
outstrip the demand for cow meat, it's kind of
a moot point. Yeah, that's true. I don't know,
do I have to expand on that Chelsea or do you
get that? No, I get that. Okay. The near -term
plan is to move from wallets and jewelry into
watch straps and small handbags, a deliberate
progression that matches current sheet sizes
and durability while the lab refines finished
chemistry. Whether cultivated leather can ever
rival the price and performance of hides coming
out of global tanneries is an open question.
Alternative leather pioneers have learned hard
lessons about scaling and strengths. One much
publicized mycelium collaboration fizzled when
the material failed to meet luxury standards.
Investors burned by the setback in the self -cultured
meat sector are cautious. Still high in fashion
has always made room for scarce materials with
a story. This one has both. For North Carolina,
the experiment is a reminder the state's biotech
brain trust isn't limited to medicine or agriculture.
Engelmeier cut his teeth in tissue engineering,
growing heart valves and cardiac muscle before
detouring into cellular agriculture in California.
The lab techniques are transferable, so is the
sales pitch. Think Pearl, he said, holding up
a pendant where the leather -tied glowed faintly
beneath the glass. Only this time the animal
keeps living. That's the end of the article.
Well, this one is a happier one to think of.
Well, less complicated one to think of than the
brain one, that's for sure. Mm -hmm. And I picked
this one because it was a happy one compared
to the other things I had. It is. I mean, to
have an alternative to leather that's not coming
from an animal that was slaughtered, I think
is a great thing. Where the animal's still happy
and living. It wasn't affected by the cells that
you're taking. And you know, there's no hoof
stomping. There's no screeching coming from the
animal because of this. I think it's great news.
I think it's probably win -win, though capitalism
he's still not being paid for the goods that
he's providing. Well to be fair maybe Dear Man
was being paid and matching up themselves. Maybe
that's why they were stomping and hollering.
He might have been. The Dear Man might have been
there with a leather good purse being like look
at what you made see. Maybe Dear Man is Leather
Man purse. And he was just waving it at them
and they were like, we do not approve. Those
are our cells. Those are our cells. And they're
pissed. I don't know. I don't know. It's just
at least it's not brains is all I can say on
this one because that was quite a disturbing
video. Yeah. And you guys got 48 hours. You tell
us. Is cultured leather from a cow? vegan or
not. I genuinely want to see what people think.
I, vegetarian here, say vegetarian at the very
least. Probably 48 hours. I'm glad you waited
for your vegetarianism for the 48 hours. Anyhow,
bye.