What if the leather of tomorrow was 100% natural, ethical and produced without slaughter? Thanks to biotechnologies, the Dutch start-up Qorium is taking up the challenge by cultivating animal cells in vitro to create a revolutionary material.
Produce real animal leather without slaughter. The idea may make you smile and seem utopian, but that is what the Dutch start-up Qorium is offering. To do this, it relies on biotechnologies. More precisely, on the culture of cells in vitro. “Our technology was developed by Mark Post*. For almost 20 years, he has been dedicated to tissue engineering and the use of cultivation techniques to design tissues for consumers”says Michael Newton, president and CEO of Qorium.
Before having fun: “His first company, Mosa Meat, became a major player in the cultured foods sector. Its main product is cultivated beef.. It was precisely during his first adventure that the scientist became aware of the fact that the applications of cell culture are much broader than just the food sector. On paper, the principle is simple: exploit very specific cell lines to produce essentially natural products, but in an optimized way. “Qorium was created about four years ago to apply this technology to the leather market”recalls Michael Newton. If cell culture experts are interested in leather, it is for two main reasons: leather is a very attractive material – its price per kilogram is much more attractive than that of food – and there is no regulatory framework for this material because it is not a food. It is therefore more easily marketable.
A process inspired by life
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The basic technology is simply based on the principle of cell multiplication and differentiation. “We will first take cells via a biopsy from a cow. It is a painless process, comparable to a simple injection” explains Michael Newton. Once the sample has been taken, it is necessary to identify the cells which will make it possible to obtain the final material. These are fibroblasts, cells of the dermis responsible for the formation of connective tissue which, naturally, serves as support for the skin. “Once the fibroblasts are isolated, we can genetically modify them to give them specific characteristics that will be useful in our process”explains Michael Newton. Thus, the Qorium teams are able to obtain cells capable of forming particularly strong bonds between collagen proteins or even simpler mechanisms such as cellular immortalization. Once the desired cells have been obtained, the Qorium teams carry out cell multiplication. “We grow these cells until we have billions of them”says the CEO. Once this process is completed, the cells are placed in equipment developed and developed by Qorium: a tissue bioreactor. Concretely, the cells are placed on a surface and receive the nutrients and conditions necessary to stop their proliferation. Their behavior is then modulated so as to increase the secretion of collagen, a protein naturally present in large quantities in the epidermis. Thanks to this device, the cells develop uniform layers of collagen and thanks to their cross-linking processes (see box), create sheets of tissue.
Thus, Qorium is able to obtain a final product equivalent to cowhide. One of the major advantages put forward by the company is “the absence of animal suffering”and a reduction in the environmental footprint of the product, even if classic leather does not cause specific suffering as a by-product of livestock for food. “We optimize a natural process in a very targeted way to obtain a truly beautiful, homogeneous and precise product, which offers consumers a better product while preserving the planet”insists the manager. Indeed, by focusing on the use of fibroblasts, the Qorium process makes it possible to obtain sheets of leather free of imperfections: hairs, blood vessels, marks, bite marks or even stretch marks… This quality of the product makes it possible to reduce the final phase of leather treatment. “Our added value therefore lies in a very efficient manufacturing process, for a better quality final product for our customers”believes Michael Newton.
And if the manager is convinced of the quality of his product, it is because one of the company’s co-founders, Rutger Ploem (product director), is the sixth generation of a family of tanners. “He knows the leather industry better than anyone. He knows what a wonderful material leather is, but he also knows how harmful it is to the environment, the animals and the people involved in that supply chain.”says Michael Newton.
Preserve the essence of leather and the environment
It is therefore driven by the desire to be the one who manages to preserve the essence of leather while preserving the environment that Rutger Ploem joined forces with Mark Post to find an alternative to leather without compromising on the quality of the materials. “The only way to truly replace leather is to use real leather” says Michael Newton. Before tempering: “Many people make vegetable leathers, from pineapples or other plants, and these are indeed excellent materials that we support because they make it possible to replace plastic materials or polluting materials. However, they do not have the quality of real leather”. Currently, the young company is still at the laboratory stage and therefore has very limited volumes. “Our production is currently voluntarily limited as we focus on the development and industrialization of our process, and on the continuous improvement of its efficiency”specifies Michael Newton. Indeed, Qorium believes that its production costs are currently too high. But the company hopes to quickly improve its process to reach commercial production capabilities. It will rely in particular on a recent fundraising of 22 million euros, carried out in November 2025 and bringing together various European players. This funding round will allow the start-up to equip its laboratory in Maastricht (Netherlands) with new bioreactors. “As we expand and progress in this industrial process, we expect to quickly reach production capacities of several thousand square meters of leather per year. Ultimately, our commercial facilities will have a production capacity of more than 1 Mm2/year”enthuses the CEO, who is even considering several million square meters within five years.
An internationalization of the process
To achieve such production volumes, the start-up would like to build production units in Europe, as a first step. “The great thing about our process is that it is completely independent of regions and geographies. There’s no reason we can’t implement it everywhere in the world.” points out Michael Newton. The company’s approach is to strike a balance between what is relevant to its customers and what is most effective. It would seem that the first choice for an international unit is Europe, or even France. “We are focusing on this continent. It must be recognized that France has been very progressive and has provided considerable support for sustainable businesses like this”estimates the CEO. It is also important to note that one of the main investors in the start-up is a French financial institution: Sofinnova Partners. In addition, big names in French luxury are leather specialists and could be very interested in Qorium’s products. If for the moment the start-up focuses on cowhide, which represents the vast majority of the leather market, its technology could very well be applied to other types of leather (pork, ostrich, lamb, etc.). “We were even asked if we could make elephant leather”laughed Michael Newton.
*Dr. Mark Post is a Dutch pharmacologist, professor of angiogenesis in tissue engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology. He is considered the pioneer of synthetic meat cultivation.
CROSS-LINKING: WHEN THE NETWORK PROVIDES STABILITY
In leather production, cell crosslinking plays an essential role in giving the material its strength, stability and durability. Raw skin is made up of a network of collagen fibers.
During tanning, these fibers are cross-linked, meaning they are reinforced with additional bonds that stabilize the natural structure of the hide.
This crosslinking prevents biological degradation, improves mechanical resistance and gives the leather its characteristic properties: flexibility, durability, resistance to water and heat. Thanks to this process, the original fibrous structure is transformed into a homogeneous, durable material suitable for many uses, such as leather goods, furniture or shoes.
