Corskin is Sardinian supplier Lebiu Design’s flagship material made of cork production byproducts.
Lebiu Design’s Corskin is a leather-like material made of cork production waste – from local cork manufacturing – combined with PLA (polylactic acid), a bio-sourced plastic made of corn and sugarcane waste. Corskin has the smooth appearance of animal hide, but with a rough backside, that recalls the feel of cork. This new material is particularly resistant to abrasion and cutting.
Corskin is the brainchild of Fabio Molina, who launched the start-up in 2019 after researching alternatives to animal leather during his engineering studies. He was joined by his associate Alessandro Sestini that same year. Corskin was selected by the European Commission as part of a program to imagine alternatives to animal leather and reduce the environmental production footprint for products in the fashion, leather goods and to a lesser extent, luxury packaging industries.
Lebiu Design is currently working on Nanocork, a natural finishing treatment also made of cork byproducts meant to enhance textiles. This solution could also be of interest to the luxury packaging sector.
