An Indian startup called Phool developed a technique to make leather from discarded flowers. The flowers are thrown out after prayer ceremony in temples. The company was founded by Ankit Agarwal and Prateek Kumar in 2017, the company aims to address the waste created when the flowers are discarded into the river Ganga, where the water, which people drink and bathe, gets contaminated with pesticides used in the flower industry. Phool creates customer products from upcycled flowers, including what is called "fleather". The company employs women, particularly from lower class, which gives them opportunities and employment benefits such as health insurance.
Flowers for prayer ceremony
"Feather is a viable alterative to animal leather" Agarwal told media outlet Hindustan Times. "We convert floral waste into charcoal-free incense products. But last year, we decide to explore the development of animal-free leather. Intrigued by the formation of a leather -like white layer on unused piles of flower, our research and development tam discovered the growth of a microorganism which used flower petals as a nutrition source". The team also discovered that flower leather contains chitin- an analog to leather's durability component collagen, which makes the vegan material a viable subtitle for animal skin.
Phool recently secured $1.4 million in investment capital to continue its mission of reducing flower waste, creating new consumer products, all while helping to empower Indian women.
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