Lies Mertens

Handbags made of vegan MycaNova and VEGEA leather

Lies Mertens designs timeless and functional handbags from high-quality materials. During production, she keeps the ecological footprint as small as possible: the bags are made from surplus leather and coloured with the most ecological chemicals possible. The packaging is made from recycled materials. She also markets bags made from MycaNova and VEGEA, vegan alternatives to leather.

Lies Mertens: "As a future-oriented company, we are always looking for new, sustainable and innovative materials. In 2023, I celebrated the 5th anniversary of my company by being the first in Europe to release a handbag collection in MycaNova. That vegan alternative to leather is made from mycelium, the root structure of fungi. MycaNova is a brand of Belgian company Citribel. They make citric acid from a residual product from sugar production. During that process, mycelium is formed, from which they use binders to make MycaNova. It is a super-strong, elastic and weather-resistant material, ideal for handbags."

"Before MycaNova, the Italian company VEGEA already caught my attention. In a fully circular production process, they use waste from wine producers: the pips, stalks and skins of grapes. They dry that waste, and from the pips they extract oil. They mix the ground waste with the oil. The result: top-quality vegan leather. Calvin Klein, Le Coq Sportif, Bentley and several other global brands also use that leather in their products. The leather has huge potential. From wine production alone, a patch of vegan leather can be extracted every year, covering the entire province of Antwerp."