Luxury fashion brand, Gucci, has introduced a new line of shoes made from an exclusive vegan material. The material, named Demetra after the Greek goddess of agriculture and harvest, is made of up to 77 per cent plant-based materials, like viscose and wood pulp compounds sourced from sustainably managed forests, along with bio-based polyurethane sourced from non-genetically modified wheat and corn. The new material was created in-house with a Tuscany-based group of tanneries, Gruppo Colonna, in the course of two years.
The shoe line includes vegan versions of the Rhyton and New Ace and sneakers. The shoes carry a similar price range of its leather versions at a range of about $710 to $950. While Demetra, out of which the sneakers are made, does contain some amount of synthetic components in order to make sure the product delivers a desired level of performance, quality and finish, the brand says it will continue to work to replace them with more sustainable alternatives.
In a statement about the new plant-based material, Gucci’s CEO and President, Marco Bizzarri, said, “Demetra is a new category of material that encapsulates Gucci’s quality and aesthetic standards with our desire to innovate, leveraging our traditional skills and know-how to create for an evolving future.” While the material is currently exclusive to the brand, with Gucci filing to patent and trademark it, the brand plans to market Demetra to the industry in the future.
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