Cactus Leather Designer Wins PETA Award Ahead of H&M Debut

For Immediate Release:
March 16, 2021

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

Guadalajara, Mexico –

A Compassionate Business Award is on its way from PETA to Adriano Di Marti—the company behind Desserto, a PETA-Approved Vegan leather made from prickly pear cactus—for stepping up to meet the rapidly growing demand for ethical and animal- and eco-friendly vegan leather. Fashion giant H&M will feature Desserto in a new sustainability collection that is set to launch on March 18 and aims to highlight fabrics of the future.

“With vegan leather—made with everything from fruits and fungi to kombucha and cactus—trailblazers like Adriano Di Marti show just how much the fashion world has grown, literally,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA’s Compassionate Business Award celebrates Desserto leather for challenging the false idea that cows are commodities.”

A PETA video exposé of the world’s largest leather producer revealed that gentle cows and bulls were branded on the face, electroshocked, and beaten before being killed for their skin. Turning animal skins into leather requires the use of 130 different chemicals—including cyanide—and leather production produces massive amounts of the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. The World Bank has also reported that cattle ranching is responsible for over 80% of deforestation in the Amazon since 1970.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to wear”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.