Wear Your Plants
If we care about animal welfare and the well-being of the planet then we need alternatives to wearing animal skins. Okay so yes we’ve had plastic leathers for a while now, but if we’re moving away from plastics too then where do we go from there?
Well, fortunately we humans are resourceful beings. We see a problem and some bright spark comes up with a solution. It will often be a long road of trial and error but eventually that Clever Person will announce their invention to the world.
Most people will poo poo their idea- saying it will never catch on, it will be too expensive, bla bla bla. But a few other bright sparks will see its potential and find ways to make it work in the real world.
Enter plant-based leathers. Mushroom, pineapples, apples, cactii- they’ve all been used to create a wide variety of ‘leathers’- in the form of bags, belts and even boots. Until the big guns take these on in their fashion manufacturing, it is still down to the smaller brands to come up with the goods.
And this week in Brave New Girl podcast I am interviewing one of those plant pioneers. She is Jessica Kruger, founder of Luxtra London, a luxury fashion accessories brand making products from plant-based leathers.
Jessica takes us on her journey to starting Luxtra, the challenges she’s overcome and the courage she’s found along the way.
CONSCIOUS LIVING
It’s people like Jessica that are making our choices easier to make so that we can live cruelty-free lives.
My guest this week is Jessica Kruger, Founder of Luxtra, a conscious, cruelty free, & sustainability -focused luxury brand of plant-based leather accessories. In 2020 Luxtra certified as a B-corporation- a new type of company that balances purpose with profit, using business as a force for good.
There's no denying fashion is a super-saturated market, so competition is fierce. Like in almost any industry - Luxtra are a small player trying to compete with businesses that have deep pockets and heritage brand names.
Jessica grew up in Australia and moved out of home when she was 20, moving from Sydney to Paris. She had dreamed, since she was 10 years old, about living in Paris, so she leapt at the opportunity when it came up in university. Later she moved to London to start a meat-free restaurant called Ethos . It opened in 2014.
Ever since, her life has been about trying to create businesses that help people adopt more plant-based / cruelty-free lifestyles. Her biggest goal is to make an impact in terms of animal welfare. The way she is doing this is by creating non-leather products that are beautiful and desirable, so that more people will feel inclined to make more cruelty-free choices in their lives.
She has recently gained B-Corp certification for her brand and she explains what that entails and why it is the stamp of approval for sustainability in business.
Thanks so much Jessica for bringing us beautiful non-leather luxury accessories so that we can start to make changes in our fashion consumption towards the health and well-being of animals, people and the planet.
Thanks also for showing us that we can make good choices when it comes to animal welfare and that we can have accessories that are conscious, cruelty-free & sustainability-focused.
You can find out more about Jessica’s brand on https://luxtralondon.com/ and follow her on Linkedin @Jessicakruger
CHANGE THE WORLD
Imagine making the world a better place by sharing your message, vision and mission. Tell your story on podcasts and your positive impact will ripple out across the globe.