T-REX LEATHER
Brand
LAB-GROWN LEATHER
Entrant Agency
VML
Category
Creative B2B
Award
Bronze
Festival & Year
Cannes Lions (2026)
Case Study Details
Luxury fashion has always been built on heritage, craftsmanship and rare materials — but the future of luxury requires rethinking where those materials come from. While brands explore alternatives to animal leather, many struggle to create materials that feel truly premium and emotionally desirable. The opportunity was to move beyond imitation and create something completely new.
VML, The Organoid Company and Lab-Grown Leather Ltd. created T-Rex Leather™, the world’s first leather material inspired by a prehistoric species. By reconstructing fossilised T.rex collagen sequences through advanced biotechnology, the team created a futuristic luxury material that connects 66 million years of evolution with the future of sustainable design.
The material was transformed into a one-of-a-kind handbag by avant-garde techwear label Enfin Levé. Unveiled at Art Zoo Museum in Amsterdam beside a life-sized T.rex structure, the piece created a powerful contrast between prehistoric biology and future fashion. The project demonstrated the potential of lab-grown leather as a durable, traceable and animal-free alternative for luxury, fashion and beyond.
The launch generated global attention by turning a complex scientific innovation into a cultural conversation around the future of materials and sustainable luxury. The T-Rex Leather™ handbag became a unique collector’s piece, exhibited publicly before auction, while the project positioned VML, The Organoid Company and Lab-Grown Leather Ltd. at the intersection of biotechnology, creativity and future-facing design.
CREDITS
Brands & Innovation Partners: The Organoid Company, Lab-Grown Leather Ltd.
Creative Agency: VML Paris.
Global Chief Creative Officer, Innovation & CCO EMEA: Bas Korsten.
Design Partner: Enfin Levé.
Founder & Lead Designer: Michal Hadas.
Scientific & Technology Partners
Professor Che Connon, Lab-Grown Leather Ltd.
Thomas Mitchell, CEO, The Organoid Company.
Presentation Board
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«PREHISTORIC BIOLOGY
AND MODERN COUTURE HAVE
OFFICIALLY CONVERGED.»
4.63 Billion X10 +279%
INTEREST FROM.
LUXURY BRANDS
MEDIA IMPRESSIONS, LAB GROWN LEATHER LTD.
«A T-REX LEATHER HANDBAG
IS REWRITING SUSTAINABILITY’S
ROLE IN LUXURY.»
SHARE PRICE
& DESIGNERS THE
HYPEBEAST
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LGL
Lab-Grown
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1? THE FUTURE
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66 MILLION YEARS
IN THE MAKING”
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B2B | PROBLEM B2B | STRATEGY B2B | IDEA
ee For over a decade, the lab-grown leather category was trapped. Despite endorsements ur strategy was to create a brand experience that would make our B2B audience _ Lab-Grown Leather presents “T-Rex Leather": To convince a B2B audience that rejects sap
from major brands, it was rejected by the luxury industry, As Jean-Noél Kapferer writes in feel the
The Luxury Strategy: The moment a mate be flawlessly replicated in a laboratory
infinitely, it ceases to be a luxury.’ This wasn't a marketing problem. It was an ideological
wall. Luxury houses lobbied against the term ‘leather for these materials, and their disceming
lab’ with ‘fake. Lab-Grown Leather (LGL) faced a problem no ad
alue of our innovation. The insight: luxury decision-makers are moved by
myth and rarity, not just tech specs. They evaluate materials through cultural signals,
not sales decks. instead of a traditional B2B approach, we designed a cultural
experience around a single creation. We targeted the media our B2B audience
actually reads—The Financial Times, The Drum, MaterialDistrict. By unveiling the
handbag in a museum, we created an immersive story they experienced through
global media, transforming their perception without a single sales pitch.
pitches, we did not create a pitch. We created a cultural experience. We resurrected
in of a T-Rex and unveiled a single, pri creation in a museum. The idea was
fojtransform a B2B sales meeting into an immersive narrative. We created an experience
‘our B2B audience did:notattend, but one they read about in the world's most re:
publications:This experience Wasiampliied globally through a documentary. The final
touchpoint was thé’auction announcement, With a price signal that spoke directly to the
‘commercial realities ofithe luxury market.
clients associated
‘campaign could fix: its technology had a perfect body but no soul. A radical launch was
needed to resurrect its reputation, and reconnect with fashion brands and designers
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