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Fringe Mini: Deja-Moo; Same Cow, New Leather · Journey to the Fringe

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  Chelsea, I have never used this source before,
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  but we could use some good news. I love it. So
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  we're going to use some good news. Oh, good.
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  This is WRAL .com, written on October 14th, 2025,
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  written by Liz McLaughlin. Article title, lab
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  -grown leather from a living cow could change
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  the fashion industry. It's like the brains, but
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  different. The wallet in George Engelmeier's
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  hand looks unremarkable, tan textured, a little
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  stiff at the edges. The story behind it is anything
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  but. It was grown in a North Carolina lab from
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  the skin cells of a cow named Angel who was very
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  much alive grazing in an animal sanctuary in
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  upstate New York. Engelmeier, a biomedical engineer
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  who founded Cultivated Biomaterials in the Raleigh
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  area, is already selling jewelry in late with
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  what he calls cultivated leather. prototype small
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  goods like wallets. With this Kickstarter as
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  a springboard, he says the company's next targets
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  are watch bands and eventually handbags as the
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  material strengthens and flexibility improves.
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  Quote, this is the first time in history that
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  a cow has lived to see leather grown from her
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  own cell. End quote. Engelmayer said holding
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  a sheet of tissue that had just finished the
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  first step of tannin. Quote, Angel is still alive
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  and doing amazing. End quote. Angel is a rescued
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  Black Angus at Sweet Farm, a non -profit sanctuary.
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  In January, Engelmeyer visited with a pouch made
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  from Angel's cells and held it up for the bovine
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  to inspect. Oh, that's sweet. The moment that
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  the company... Is that sweet or is that kind
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  of like, I don't know, a little psychotic? A
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  little bit, but she's alive and well, so I'm
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  currently mind -wrestling myself over what I
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  think about, but I think it's nice. I'm thinking
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  - I'm leaning towards it's nice. I'm still torn
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  if it's - that wouldn't be vegan, right? Because
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  it's still made from animal products. It wouldn't
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  be vegan, however - It would be vegetarian, in
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  theory. I see no problems with it. So far, so
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  far. I could be wildly wrong on that first feel
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  I'm getting from it. I would actually - like
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  somebody who's more in depth in vegan understanding
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  - I would like to ask them what they thought
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  of this, whether the animal is still on a farm.
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  I do feel like vegan would be no, because it
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  is an animal product. However, it's not compromising
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  the health or happiness of that animal in the
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  least. No, and that's why, like... Because with
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  bees too, like some people think that honey is
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  vegan, but others think it's not. It depends
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  on what your opinion is on like making an animal
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  work versus not. Yeah, and this one's not making
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  it work. It's just literally taking itself from
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  what I'm... Just existing. But it's existing
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  on a farm, which I always am curious of with
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  the vegans. Yeah, I mean cows wouldn't really
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  successfully thrive outside of a farm, I don't
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  think. You say that, but we've talked about the
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  Oryx, it's a beautiful animal. That's true, that's
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  true. And they're all, like, stomping their hooves
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  and squealing. I know the reference, but I cannot
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  remember what episode it is. Dear Matt, of course.
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  You said your lover is dead. The romance novel
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  of cryptids. How could you forget? Sweet Farms
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  founder has publicly cheered the experiment,
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  framing it as a glimpse of a slaughter -free
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  future for luxury goods. Inside a small rally
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  workspace, Engelmeyer grows angels' cells on
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  airy plant -based mats called scaffolds, made
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  from fibers like capic, milkweed, and dandelion
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  fluff. The cells secrete collagen the protein
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  that gives animal hides their strength. After
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  several weeks the tissue is vegetable tanned
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  using powder derived from tree bark such as mimosa
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  and sumac, avoiding the chromium salt widely
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  used in conventional tanning. The finished slivers
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  are set into sterling silver bezels and sealed
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  beneath a glass cabochon. The effect is closer
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  to a specimen than a swatch. A biological gemstone,
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  Engelmeier likes to say. He's not the first to
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  chase lab -grown or next -gen leather. Startups
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  have experimented with mycelium mushroom roots,
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  bacterial cellulose, and collagen produced in
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  tanks by engineered microbes. A few have shown
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  couture -ready prototypes, but durability and
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  cost have been the sticking point. Engelmeier's
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  claim to novelty is narrower. He says he is the
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  first to sell a cultivated leather product grown
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  from the cells of a living sanctuary cow to offer
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  it directly to consumers. Leather's environmental
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  ledger is complicated. Hides are a byproduct
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  of meat and dairy, but life cycle studies consistently
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  tie leather to high climate and water impact
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  because it's linked to livestock and emissions
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  and resource use and because many tanneries still
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  rely on toxic chemicals. Yeah, you're not getting
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  the byproduct to make leather until the cow is
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  dead. I think that's fairly easy to say, given
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  all of the repercussions on it. Yeah. And I wonder
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  about the vegan thing as well, because it is
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  happy living on a, like, it's been rescued, it
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  said. So it's very happy. It's living a good
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  life. So maybe it would be vegan. Well, not only
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  that, once that animal... dies. I'm assuming
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  they're going to keep cultivating that same animal's
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  skin cells. So maybe then it becomes not vegan.
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  Yeah no I'm one I'm actually I think once the
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  animal dies into like we don't have to worry
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  about whether or not it's being farmed for it's
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  like usage, it becomes easier to say it is vegan.
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  Engelmeyer cites analyses suggesting cultivated
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  leather could use up to 80 % less water and generate
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  90 % fewer emissions, while acknowledging that
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  his own operations have been yet undergone an
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  independent life cycle assessment. Water is used
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  in our process, they said, but we can recycle
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  it. That's one of the key distinctions. Independent
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  experts say that while those figures are plausible,
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  the gains will depend on the source of the nutrients
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  that feed the cells and the energy -powering
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  bioreactors. For now, the experiment remains
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  small, more proof of concept than climate panacea,
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  but it points towards a less destructive way
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  to meet global demand for leather, which industry
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  analysts value at more than $400 billion. ear.
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  And I just want to point out, it doesn't really
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  matter how much we curtail the demand for leather,
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  especially cow leather, if we don't curtail the
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  demand for cow meat. Yeah. Because whether or
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  not we have a demand for cow leather, if it doesn't
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  outstrip the demand for cow meat, it's kind of
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  a moot point. Yeah, that's true. I don't know,
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  do I have to expand on that Chelsea or do you
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  get that? No, I get that. Okay. The near -term
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  plan is to move from wallets and jewelry into
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  watch straps and small handbags, a deliberate
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  progression that matches current sheet sizes
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  and durability while the lab refines finished
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  chemistry. Whether cultivated leather can ever
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  rival the price and performance of hides coming
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  out of global tanneries is an open question.
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  Alternative leather pioneers have learned hard
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  lessons about scaling and strengths. One much
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  publicized mycelium collaboration fizzled when
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  the material failed to meet luxury standards.
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  Investors burned by the setback in the self -cultured
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  meat sector are cautious. Still high in fashion
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  has always made room for scarce materials with
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  a story. This one has both. For North Carolina,
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  the experiment is a reminder the state's biotech
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  brain trust isn't limited to medicine or agriculture.
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  Engelmeier cut his teeth in tissue engineering,
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  growing heart valves and cardiac muscle before
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  detouring into cellular agriculture in California.
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  The lab techniques are transferable, so is the
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  sales pitch. Think Pearl, he said, holding up
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  a pendant where the leather -tied glowed faintly
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  beneath the glass. Only this time the animal
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  keeps living. That's the end of the article.
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  Well, this one is a happier one to think of.
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  Well, less complicated one to think of than the
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  brain one, that's for sure. Mm -hmm. And I picked
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  this one because it was a happy one compared
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  to the other things I had. It is. I mean, to
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  have an alternative to leather that's not coming
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  from an animal that was slaughtered, I think
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  is a great thing. Where the animal's still happy
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  and living. It wasn't affected by the cells that
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  you're taking. And you know, there's no hoof
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  stomping. There's no screeching coming from the
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  animal because of this. I think it's great news.
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  I think it's probably win -win, though capitalism
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  he's still not being paid for the goods that
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  he's providing. Well to be fair maybe Dear Man
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  was being paid and matching up themselves. Maybe
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  that's why they were stomping and hollering.
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  He might have been. The Dear Man might have been
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  there with a leather good purse being like look
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  at what you made see. Maybe Dear Man is Leather
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  Man purse. And he was just waving it at them
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  and they were like, we do not approve. Those
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  are our cells. Those are our cells. And they're
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  pissed. I don't know. I don't know. It's just
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  at least it's not brains is all I can say on
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  this one because that was quite a disturbing
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  video. Yeah. And you guys got 48 hours. You tell
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  us. Is cultured leather from a cow? vegan or
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  not. I genuinely want to see what people think.
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  I, vegetarian here, say vegetarian at the very
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  least. Probably 48 hours. I'm glad you waited
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  for your vegetarianism for the 48 hours. Anyhow,
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  bye.