Sustainability

Let's talk about materials...

Poppy is an invitation to wear your values. It’s an opportunity to participate in a solution—one where you look good and feel good at the same time.

When I set out to create Poppy, selecting materials was a forethought, not an after-thought. As a company founder, I was only interested in this business if I could feel good about the role I was playing in our environment and our children's futures while doing so. 

My criteria were simple:

1. It had to be safe for me and my children to be around. That meant no endocrine disrupters or off-gassing that could cause respiratory problems. That's a hard ‘no’ for PVC-based vegan leathers.
2. It had to be safe for the people who make a living producing the materials that I would use. That meant standard tanned cow leather wouldn't cut it since 80% of the world’s leather is tanned using chromium, leading to high levels of cancer and respiratory problems in tanning workers and their families. 
3. It had to biodegrade in a decent amount of time. Vegan leathers made out of PVC and PU (the vast majority of other vegan leather bags) will take approximately 500 years to biodegrade, and will pollute waterways with micro-plastics in the process. As much as I love Poppy, I don’t think any bag is worth polluting our planet for 20 generations. 
4. Ideally, the production of the material would have a positive impact on the environment, and work to sequester carbon and support biodiversity. 

Meet bio-based leather...

1. The 'leather' Poppy is made out of stared as biodegradable materials. The raw materials of pineapple husks, grape skin, cactus, seaweed, trees, bamboo, and more. This is often waste from other industries that can be up-cycled to create our leather.
2. The process uses a special technology to make a pulp. The pulp is then processed into a high quality, degradable cellulose fiber and viscose fiber, and then made into a filament (yarn) and staple fiber which have natural antibacterial and skin-friendly properties. 
3. The biodegradable PU substrate is made from knitting, woven, and non-woven methods of making fabric. 
4. The PU base and surface layer is then made from the substrate, and both can be degraded at the end of their life.  

The result is a soft, luscious-feeling bio leather that you can feel good about the production of, about having in your home, and about what will happen to it when it's time to retire. The Poppy Bag looks great and resists scratching at levels similar to cow leather. 

Awesome, right? There are more and more emerging materials like bio leather, and better processes for cow leather, and Poppy is committed to learning about them and evolving with the best materials as they are made available. We're not perfect, but know that a lot of thought (and added expense) goes into making Poppy as sustainable as possible, while still being luxurious. 

Shopping with The Poppy Brand is one way you can Vote with your Dollar.

The Poppy Brand is also a 1% For The Planet Member, meaning we donate at least 1% of our annual revenue (not profit) each year to charities supporting environmental causes.