AppleSkin is the most natural eco leather on the market today, 100% vegan, obtained from scraps leftover from production processes using apples. It is wear-resistant, UV-protective, and a perfect example of the circular economy that One More has always supported as a production model that is consistent with a positive vision of the future.
Its inventor is Hannes Parth, from South Tyrol, whom we asked to tell us all about the disruptive and simple idea that led to AppleSkin.
Hannes, when talking about Appleskin, you often mention a concept: you define the cycle of your material as “cradle to cradle”. Can you explain the meaning of this expression and what led you to conceive and produce Appleskin?
Cradle to cradle means that the raw materials used in production processes must be natural elements and, therefore, must be recyclable. All that is needed to manufacture and produce something is raw material. What remains of the product once it has been used, is, instead, a secondary raw material, which allows saving – if recycled – on other raw materials.
If we think about it, with this reasoning there could be a world in which creating wastes makes sense: the sense of creating products that, once they have fulfilled their purpose, return to the biological cycle or to the technical production cycle of new objects. We are overpopulating this planet and raw materials are running low.
My idea has always been to give new life to food waste, such as apple scraps, that otherwise are disposed of or incinerated. So, ApplePaper and AppleSkin were born. ApplePaper is a special graphic paper that can be used for books, brochures, shopping bags, packaging, letter writing paper and envelopes: once it is useless for its purpose it can be recycled or used as compost. AppleSKin, instead, is a fabric produced using apple fibres. It too can be recycled and given a second life.
In layman’s terms, we could say that starting from the industrial waste of a natural product Appleskin gives life to a new raw material and that, especially thanks to it being completely recyclable, it extends the life of the apples from which it all begins, by keeping ‘more nature in nature’. What challenges, in addition, to having to adapt it to the intense cold weather conditions of snow, did you have to face in producing apple-based fabrics for use in technical garments? How is it possible to make a ski jacket from apples?
All fields in which AppleSkin can be applied call for different technical requirements, as the final product must satisfy different needs: the thickness, aesthetical aspects, mechanical resistance and technical characteristics of the fabric. For example, AppleSkin used in the world of bookbinding is completely different from that used in footwear, or in the world of furniture. In the ski jacket and, therefore, in technical garments, the choice of materials and how they are structured and lined is of utmost importance.
One More is a brand with an image and world of values that are very distinctive, almost iconic. The apple, instead, is probably the most common fruit of all for many of us: how do you feel about knowing that some of the apples that grow on the trees of your territory are, then, literally worn by ski and snow enthusiasts
I will always remember the first time I saw a product made of our fabric in a shop window in Milano; I still get goose bumps when I think about it. But the collaboration with One More is something special. Firstly, for geographical reasons, as we are only a few kilometres apart, and then because AppleSkin becomes part of beautiful and functional products with you. Meeting friends who wear One More AppleSkin products on the ski tracks is quite emotional.
