Vegan Leather Trousers Made Entirely From The Cactus (Nopal) Plant From Mexico 🌵
Collaborating with communities of indigenous artisans from all over Mexico has always been the heart and soul of Tea & Tequila.
We want to create a global platform to allow for Mexican artisans' unique, traditional crafts to be discovered and celebrated through our designs.
In addition to that, we are constantly trying to innovate and grow to become more sustainable as we evolve from all aspects of our supply chain, as well as how we run our business.
We pay the artisans we work with 5x the minimum wage of Mexico. We are also in the progress of making our packaging 100% compostable by working with companies such as Noissue and Bersifords Ribbons.
In terms of the production of our clothing, we use a combination of dead-stock fabric, purchasing 100% organic cotton and linen fabric and up-cycling fabric off-cuts into masks, scrunchies and one-off clothing pieces.
We also began working with Cactus Leather in 2019 during our search to find sustainable raw materials and have fallen so in love with it that we have almost fully converted from ethically sourced real leather to this truly innovative vegan alternative completely.
We are particularly proud of this latest design as it is the first time cactus leather has been used to create trousers!
We designed these beautiful trousers in a straight-leg style, lined with scallop detailing on the seams. You may wonder how they feel in comparison to real leather? Well, imagine buttery soft leather, it has the same durability thanks to its strong molecular bonding in which cactus plays an important role, and as a bonus, they smell great, a little like chocolate!
In addition to how amazing they look visually and feel, they are one of the most sustainable leather alternative options out there.
Cactus leather is made entirely from thecactus (nopal) plant, and is completely free from micro-plastics. In terms of how they are produced, the Mexican company that invented and manufactures this leather adheres to strict ecological farming methods for harvesting and they are USDA certified, ensuring they are free from herbicide or pesticides. And the cherry on top: cactus is also a natural carbon sink, the nopal plantation absorbs 8,100 tons of CO2/year.
To create these trousers, only 3 mature cactus leaves is required. The plant is not damaged during the harvesting process allowing it to grow and regenerate over the coming years.
The leaves then go through a very careful process of being washed, dried and treated without the use of chemicals; making it one of the most environmentally friendly ways to create vegan leather.
Aside from using Cactus Leather in trousers, we've also used them in the creation of our Taco Bags and Backpacks. We are just beginning, and we can't wait to experiment further with this incredible material!
