Would you wear a leather jacket grown in a lab?

[Dickie Teenie]

Is it full grain and does it comes with stitches?
https://qz.com/901643/would-you-wear-a-leather-jacket-grown-in-a-lab/

 

[Monitor]

I would! As long as it looks the part.

 

[Otter]

No ! It will probably become self aware and start trying to kill you. Have you never watched any science fiction films ?

 

[OneEyeMan]

This process really doesn't solve anything for 2 main reasons:
1. Animals aren't killed for their hides. The hides are merely a byproduct of the food industry to a large degree.
2.This "hide material" will still require traditional tanning techniques and chemicals.

 

[Guppy]

This process really doesn't solve anything for 2 main reasons:
1. Animals aren't killed for their hides. The hides are merely a byproduct of the food industry to a large degree.
2.This "hide material" will still require traditional tanning techniques and chemicals.

They can grow meat food in a lab too.

I think the most intriguing thing about this is growing a skin with a custom form, so that it is an exact, perfect, seamless one-piece fit for the intended wearer. This would likely look a bit strange upon introduction, and would take a bit of getting used to and perfecting in order to really work well. But for something like a pair of gloves, absolutely, I think this could be revolutionary.

One major question I would have would be if skins cultivated this way could match the toughness of natural grown hides. Wear and tear from real life, exercising, etc. tends to toughen skin, so I would wonder if this translates to the toughness of leather, and if a "cultured" leather would be less tough due to being grown in gentler conditions.

 

[nick123]

No thanks. I like the toxic chemicals. They're good for you.

 

[ProteinNerd]

I'm hoping I'm almost done with acquiring new leather jackets, I want to focus on just wearing them in (of course having said that I'm waiting for one to arrive in the next few days as we speak) but by the time these are commercially available and being made into a style I would want, I doubt (hopefully lol) I'll still be buying.

Having said that, I have no reason not to buy one just because it isn't "real", while I love old world craftsmanship and timeless style, I also love new technology. Modern moisture wicking gym gear is 100000000% times better than plain cotton for working out in....who knows, maybe this new fake leather will have some great properties and it can't be worse than the current faux leather right?

 

[Americanaaa Mark]

Sure

I try to be ethical when buying leather in general. How do you guys find out where and how your leather is made?

I'm assuming if it's tanned in a developed country then the animal was probably treated better?

Am I a fool for assuming this?

 

[Dickie Teenie]

Generally speaking the more valuable the animal the better the treatment it will receive.
Needless to say there's going to be a big push, there already is against Reg's regarding factory farm animal welfare.

 

[Justhandguns]

At the first sight, I thought I was seeing 'wear a leather gown in a lab'! Ah!!! That would be cool....

The problem with laboratory synthetic materials is that, at least at the moment, they are very very expensive.....
As a scientist, I certainly do not mind wearing a lab generated leather jacket (if they exist), but I can already imagine that most people here will start complaining about the textures and characters. Imagine a smooth piece of skin without any hair follicle and wrinkle (and why do you need them anyway in a bioreactor?), perfectly flat and perfectly smooth, pink in colour (because of the dyes in the culturing media), how would you like it?

The collagen secreting cell culture simply won't do it. The way to go is to 3D-print the skin so that it will mimic the architecture of a real hide (I am sure I am not the first person to have thought about that). Trust me, 3D printed bio-oragnic leather will come before lab grown leather, and it will be way better.

 

[navetsea]

^ wow... how amazing, printing out your jacket just before going to bed, and in the morning there it is standing next to the printer.