This application is focused on the development of a sustainably produced leather alternative. The leather we consume today is the net result of a long chain of carbon intensive steps associated with animal agriculture, including animal rearing, leather harvesting, tanning, and processing. A sustainable leather alternative that removes the need for animal agriculture would make a significant contribution to climate change in addition to having a clear impact on animal welfare.

The applicants, Arda Biomaterials, are a recently formed company that is commercialising exciting research that has shown that it is possible to produce synthetic leather from the waste grain produced from beer brewing --- a by-product that is typically used as low value animal feed. This in effect takes a waste material from an existing and ubiquitous industrial process (i.e. the brewer's spent grain), omits the 'growing of the animal stage' and produces a synthetic leather. By omitting the animal growth phase this synthetic leather is estimated to have only 0.3% of the carbon footprint than conventional leathers have.

Arda Biomaterials can produce small quantities of this synthetic leather in sheets via casting, but the material lacks the strength and toughness of conventional leather. Arda is seeking Fast Start Innovation funding to enable the business to experiment with using barrel heated extrusion instruments as a means of production and as a method for strengthening the material. If the business is able to strengthen the synthetic leather in this way and scale for greater material production, Arda already has brewery suppliers and fashion customers waiting to be part of the supply chain for this new material.

The enclosed funding application is focused on a programme of feasibility studies and testing needed to demonstrate the equivalence of the synthetic leather compared to the most ecologically costly conventional alternative.