The brand Gucci chose the singer Billie Eilish to unveil, on October 30, a new version of its Horsebit 1955 bag in Demetra, an innovative vegan and more sustainable material.

By Ludmilla Intravaia

“Towards the future”. It is with this introduction intended to bring hope for innovative fashion, more sustainable and respectful of sentient beings, that Gucci has unveiled, on its Instagram account, since October 30, the visuals of its new vegan bag, the Horsebit 1955 in Demetra, a 75% plant-based material developed internally over two years with the Italian brand's artisans and technicians.

Winner of the innovation prize at the 2022 vegan fashion awards from the animal rights association PETA (more info in this Boudoir Numérique article), Demetra has already adorned, since summer 2021, three sneaker models giving pride of place to viscose and wood pulp, from sustainably managed forests, as well as biosourced polyurethane, from renewable sources of wheat and corn, from Europe (more info on Le Boudoir Numérique, here) .

The Gucci campaign, featuring the American singer Billie Eilish, who is vegan and working for animal rights, presents two asymmetrical versions of the Horsebit 1955, one in black, the other monogrammed.

If the development of new generation materials is a perilous exercise, Vogue magazine seems confident in the future of Guci's Demetra to support the growth of vegan and more sustainable fashion. On October 30, a Vogue paper argues that Demetra differs from other innovative materials, because, “as the material is made from widely available inputs and involves a pre-existing tanning process, it doesn’t face the same challenges as other new-gen materials”. Vogue notes, in fact, that “for many of these innovations, though, scale has been a problem”. For instance, last June, the American company Bolt Threads announced ceasing its production of Mylo mycelium alternative to animal leather, “due to a lack of funding”.

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