Confession Time: My household owns two cars. One is leather and the other is leather. The former feels amazing, and the latter…well, let’s say that no one has been fooled.
Based on the samples currently sitting on my desk, the leather alternatives don’t feel that artificial or the environment is so strict.
Most fake leather is made using plastics derived from fossil fuels. However, samples from unidentified innovations are primarily made using grains such as wheat, soybeans and corn. The results feel like a variety of real animal leather. It even smelled like that.
“Leather isn’t just leather,” co-founder and CEO Stephanie Downs told TechCrunch. “There are literally 1,000 different types of leather. Different animals, different thicknesses, different ways they tan it. We had to develop something that was very easy to customize.”
Uncaged told TechCrunch exclusively that it is working with Hyundai’s Cradle Division to improve the materials for its automobiles. The goal is to create durable animal and climate-friendly materials that can replace leather in cars and trucks. Uncaged says that the material’s carbon footprint is 95% lower than that of leather.
Last month, the startup also announced a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover.
The leather alternative is almost as old as the automotive industry itself, with early Ford Model T cars using primitive faux leather in 1913. Although the quality has improved over the years, many alternatives still don’t have the same feel as the real article.
TechCrunch Events
San Francisco
|
October 27th-29th, 2025
Startup materials are currently being used in vegan-friendly handbags and viewing straps, and fashion companies could be well-known customers, but automakers are undoubtedly the bigger target. Each leather interior can consume 2-14 cowherds, depending on the amount of leather-covered interior and how loud the car manufacturer is about quality. As cows live outside, their skin is often damaged from insect bites and encounters with barbed wire fences. These scratches mean that a significant portion of the leather is often wasted.
Uncaged’s materials are factory-made, so they are consistent in the way Cowhides is not.
Compared to traditional leather, Uncaged products are mid-market. Small orders sell for less than $10 per square foot, while bulk orders can cost half of the cost, Downs said. “It’s not just about saving on the environment, but also about saving on revenue.”
Uncaged is currently running tests for various automakers, she said. Heat resistance is the biggest hurdle, but she said her company is on the rise.
“One of the automotive companies wants us to be at 95°C for 500 hours. And we already achieved 85°C in our first experiment and achieved it for 500 hours,” she said.
Downs said Uncaged can more closely simulate real leather by mimicking the chemical structure of the leather itself.
Leather is caused by the process of sunburning the animal’s skin, stabilizing fibrous collagen proteins.
“We started testing literally hundreds of different plant components and different combinations to see if we could create fibril structures,” Downs says. “And what (co-founder Xiaokun Wang) ultimately developed was how to turn plant proteins into those types of structures.”
The material is then placed on a lining of a vegetable fiber-based fabric. Both fabric-based and plant-based leather materials are biodegradable, Downs said. Many applications also add a 0.01 mm layer of bio-based polyurethane, a plastic. This allows you to “make a big difference in appearance. You can change the feel of your hands.
Additionally, Uncaged can add mineral dyes to give you the desired color and emboss a variety of textures. You can also use flower extracts to add a variety of fragrances. One sample sitting on my desk emits a kind of sweet floral scent.
“The automotive companies spoke to us about the development of signature scents that are exclusive to them. We asked handbag makers, “Can we smell something like the scent of our signature?”,” Downs said. “It was much more popular than I had imagined.”
