Nicole Rawling: Lab Grown Animal Leather is Happening
Species Unite
elizabeth novogratz
5.0 • 911 Ratings
🗓️ 3 December 2020
⏱️ 34 minutes
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Summary
Nicole Rawling is the co-founder and executive director of the Material Innovation Initiative (MII), a game-changing non-profit that is helping to remove and replace animal materials with high-tech, near-identical materials that are all made without harming an animal.
The goal of the initiative is to remove the farmed animal from materials such as leather, wool, silk, down, fur, and exotic skins - and instead use cutting-edge tech like cultivated and lab-grown cells to make kinder and more sustainable alternatives.
Growing next gen materials like this is going to change the world – for animals, humans, and the planet.
And by partnering with scientists, start-ups, and retailers, the institute is at the forefront of bringing these critical innovations to market. The future is here and the hope is that in the next decade, animals will no longer be used in materials in the fashion, automotive, and home goods industries. And, Nicole and MII are making this happen fast.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I think that's the thing to note is that with all of this it isn't asking consumers to accept a lower quality product. |
| 0:06.2 | The end goal is to have these products be even better than traditional leather. Hi, I'm Elizabeth Novigrats. |
| 0:20.0 | This is species unite. We have a favor to ask if you like today's episode and you |
| 0:26.7 | have a spare minute could you please rate and review species unite on Apple |
| 0:31.8 | Podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps |
| 0:36.2 | people to find the show. This conversation is with Nicole Rawling. |
| 0:44.0 | Nicole is the co-founder and executive director of the Material Innovation Initiative. |
| 0:49.0 | Their non-profit and their goal is to remove and replace animal materials like wool, leather, silk, |
| 0:58.0 | down, fur and exotic skins from the market. So instead, we will have plant-based and lab-grown |
| 1:04.8 | alternatives in the fashion automotive and home goods industries. The hope is that in |
| 1:10.3 | the next 10 years we won't see animals being used in any of these industries. Nicole, thank you so much for being here today. |
| 1:23.0 | Oh, it's such a pleasure. |
| 1:33.2 | Nicole, thank you so much for being here today. Oh, it's such a pleasure. |
| 1:34.7 | What you're doing is incredibly cool. |
| 1:37.6 | But before we even start with Material Innovation Initiative, |
| 1:42.2 | will you talk a little bit about you and how your whole, |
| 1:46.0 | the animal rights, veganism all started in your life? |
| 1:50.0 | Did you grow up with animals? |
| 1:52.0 | I did. I grew up with a couple of dogs. |
| 1:54.6 | And actually, it's not something I remember, |
| 1:57.4 | but something my mom tells me, |
| 1:59.5 | that when I was five years old, |
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