One species of fish is the perfect candidate for fish leather and environmental activists aren’t against it. Inversa launches Invasive Lionfish leather products from sneakers to watches
Inversa leather-production: a boon for marine ecosystem
Recycled plastic, regenerative agriculture and ‘vegan’ fibres have each marked their territories in the on-going hackathon for planet-friendly textile production. But rarely has it been said that leather is for the greater good.
From the process of manufacturing to the sourcing of animal skin, leather’s harmful impact on the environment has been protested for decades. Fish leather made from tough stingray skin and shark hide is no exception to the rule. However, ecopreneurs Aarav Chavda and Roland Salatino of the start-up Inversa, have ascertained that using one species of fish for leather-production is considered a boon for marine ecosystems: Lionfish.
Justifying lionfish farming for leather
With no known natural predators, lionfish are aggressive creatures that can devour entire coral reef systems within a few weeks of migrating. They consume reef-native fish, including algae-feeders which results in an overgrowth of marine flora causing ecological imbalance. Lionfish are also rapid reproducers with females releasing up to 50,000 eggs every 3 days. Scientists have found that their presence has caused deteriorating coral reef health and destruction to natural food chains, particularly in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Western Atlantic.
Inversa claims that by removing these invasive predators for leather production, they enable the reef ecosystems to rehabilitate. Further, their studies reveal that each lionfish can eat up to 70,000 native reef fish in its lifetime. They efficiently kill up to seventy nine per cent of young marine life within five weeks of entering a coral reef system. According to Planet Peace, lionfish are highly resistant to disease and infection and have a high chance of survival to adulthood, living up to two decades.
Leather made from invasive species
Looking at the bigger picture, left unchecked these creatures can not only cause loss of biodiversity but also pose a great threat to one of the world’s foremost oxygen supply hubs. This is because they consume cleaner/algae feeder fish which are responsible for maintaining reef algae at levels that will allow enough sunlight in, to produce most of the world’s oxygen.
Inversa has also found that the existence of these intrusive lionfish in certain geographies is a result of human error: in the late 1980s, a few lionfish were mistakenly released undetected into Atlantic waters off the coast of Florida. Fast forward almost 40 years, they have taken over the waters, specifically from the coast of Florida and Mexico, destroying entire oceanic food chains. So Inversa’s product claim is leather made from invasive species that is not just sustainable but regenerative, as it revives ecosystems around the planet.
Inversa: in the business of making regenerative leathers from intrusive species
The Florida-based start-up is invested in creating invasive exotic leathers that are essentially ‘good for the planet.’ Theirs is an invention to rival even traditional vegan leathers as it goes beyond minimizing environmental impact to establish positive change.
Founded in 2020, Inversa is the brainchild of Aarav Chavda who has been diving off Florida’s coast for years. «The impacts on the reefs can be seen when you dive now – it’s less vibrant, it’s less cacophonous» Chavda shares. «We know there are solutions for some of the problems, such as coral-friendly sunscreens to help protect the reefs – but nobody’s been able to do anything about the Lionfish».
This isn’t just about lionfish though, Chavda aims to make materials from many invasive species. «Unfortunately, there are millions of lionfish in these ecosystems, and we have a long way to go to thinning out this population. But there are many other invasive species out there. We believe all of them can be used in fashion products».
Invasive Leather™
The company is currently collaborating with its partners to launch new Invasive Leather™ that «allows fashion to heal the planet». Two more ecosystems will be revived by their efforts: Invasive Dragonfin Leather™ to help rehabilitate the Mississippi River and Invasive Python Leather™ to help revive the Everglades, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Dragonfin were imported from Southeast Asia in the 1970s to manage ponds within the US. The 1990’s flooding led to the escape of these fish into the Mississippi River, where they have since been competing with native species from the Great Lakes to Gulf of Mexico. Each Dragonfin hide from Inversa claims to protect over 150 native fish and endangered freshwater species along with a million livelihoods dependent on the Mississippi River.
Breaking down the production chain
Inversa’s supply chain is built entirely across America. First a few thousand lionfish are bought daily from fishing cooperatives and individuals in Florida, Mexico and the Caribbean Islands. In a Tampa-based processing center, the fish meat is extracted and sold to restaurants whereas the hides go to a tannery in Ohio. Chavda shared that the remainder of the fish is used for bait and oils, as utilizing the entire fish and minimizing waste is a key part of the company’s low environmental impact ethic.
«The tannery is also focused on preserving resources – less than a cup of wastewater is produced for every hide» revealed Chavda. However, currently Inversa’s chemical tanning processes are not low impact and the team is looking into implementing eco-solutions.
Inversa has collaborated with a few brands that use these hides in creating fashion merchandise. Italian sneaker brand P448 uses lionfish leather and also boasts of less than 400ml water used in production per sneaker. The Teton Leather Company, manufacturing watches and wallets also works with lionfish leather. Francesca Ritchie, designer at Teton states that none of the other skins they’ve worked with have the same waterproof quality and the wild scale texture makes it look life-like.
Do sustainability claims pan out – or is it more greenwashing?
The invasive nature of lionfish is well documented by marine scientists and the mission behind Inversa is backed by such research. Further, Inversa documents that «Invasive Lionfish» affect over forty two million livelihoods in the Western Atlantic Basin whose livelihoods are dependent on reef systems.
By consuming native fish and marine species, lionfish leave fishermen with meagre means of income. The company hopes to create a sustainable production cycle through partnership and education where fishermen and women of low-income states understand the developing market for lionfish and are also trained to hunt them. This is required as lionfish have poisonous spokes and are not attracted to bait.
Chavda explains, «A lot of the geographies, especially the lower-income Caribbean area, have no market at all for lionfish – and so this fish is not only destroying the coral reefs, which sustain these fishing cooperatives’ livelihoods, but they also can’t do anything about it». Inversa changes that, «Until now, they didn’t have an incentive to hunt for lionfish because lobster and grouper have much more value on the market. By creating this supply chain, we’re creating an incentive for them to catch lionfish instead».
Inversa: one of the nine finalists in the Global Ocean Resilience Innovation Challenge (ORIC)
This June, on World Oceans Day, Inversa was nominated as one of the nine finalists in the Global Ocean Resilience Innovation Challenge (ORIC), hosted by the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA) incubator. Inversa proposed to set up fishing cooperatives in Quintana Roo, Mexico, by underwriting the fishermen’s risk with a ‘100% catch-to-cash guarantee’ for lionfish. The company could finance the purchase of hunting equipment and offer premium incentives along with prompt payment for lionfish.
Another low-impact solution that Inversa is incorporating at the production stage is tanning with Zeolite and Silicon compounds. The company states, «We are happy to say that we do not use the toxic Chrome VI. Instead, today, like seventy five percent of leather in fashion today, we use Chrome III in our tanning process. However, we believe in pushing the boundaries of eco-sensitivity and soon, we will be shifting to bio-based tanning via Zeolite».
Fish leather – local and indigenous communities
Anthropological research reveals that fish leather was commonly used by tribes in coastal and riverine regions for its strength due to criss-crossing fibres. At that time, the fish sourced for leather-making were those popularly consumed, including salmon. Few of the indigenous communities known to have created fish leather include the Ainu tribe in Hokkaido, northern Japan, Inuits of Alaska, Hezhen of Northeast China, Sami of Sweden and Nanai of Siberia.
Pre-Inversa, the coastal resource manager of a popular Florida beach, Alex Fogg, with a degree in marine science led the battle against invasive lionfish. Conversing with local divers since 2011, he discovered that lionfish numbers reached a peak saturation point in Florida’s waters around 2018. Fogg, along with other residents began hunting the species in an effort to reverse their detriment.
He shares from experience that lionfish aren’t hunted with hook and line as they’re lazy fish. Instead divers use «pointy sticks and pick them up like trash». Every May, a tournament called the Emerald Coast Open invites lionfish hunters from across Florida; in 2021, over 10,000 lionfish were removed from the gulf waters. The tournament incentivizes people for the most lionfish, the biggest lionfish and the smallest lionfish in an effort to remove as many as possible.
Inversa Leathers
Founded in 2020 by Aarav Chavda and Roland Salantino. Inversa creates leathers from invasive species, reviving ecosystems around the planet. The company’s lionfish leather generates sustainable livelihoods for poor farming communities. At present, the leather has been used in collaboration with Italian sneaker brand P448 and Teton Leather for small leather goods like watches and wallets.
