Faircraft acquires VitroLabs’ assets, securing over 30 patents to lead in lab-grown leather production, signaling a transformative shift in sustainable luxury fashion.
Faircraft’s Paris headquarters could easily be mistaken for an art foundation or boutique architecture firm. The old building looks less like a laboratory and more like a showroom. Inside, however, what’s unfolding is nothing short of a material revolution. This week, the company announced the acquisition of VitroLabs, a California-based biotech pioneer with one of the most extensive patent portfolios in the world of lab-grown leather. With this move, Faircraft has positioned itself as the uncontested leader in in vitro leather production — an achievement ten years in the making.
“This acquisition represents a real strategic turning point for us: we are now the leader in the production of high-quality in vitro leather, and will now move into a new phase of industrialisation,” Haïkel Balti, co-founder and CEO of Faircraft, said in a statement. “Our objective is clear: to make in vitro leather a mark of prestige for the world’s leading fashion houses.”
The deal includes more than 30 international patents that VitroLabs developed over the past decade, largely focused on the cultivation of multilayered skin structures and the use of synthetic and biological scaffolds to support cell growth. VitroLabs was founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley, and quickly attracted high-profile backers, including Leonardo DiCaprio and the luxury conglomerate Kering, which invested as early as 2022. At the time, the lab-grown leather space was crowded with startups promising scalable cruelty-free alternatives to animal hides. But most remained stuck in prototype phase. VitroLabs was among the few to successfully develop full-thickness hides with the supple grain structure required by high-end tanneries and luxury brands.
Faircraft’s acquisition does more than just expand its IP portfolio — it marks a shift in how fast the market is moving. According to Grand View Research, the global synthetic leather market was valued at $33.7 billion in 2022 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 8.0 percent through 2030. Within that, bio-based and lab-grown leathers are rapidly gaining market share, especially in fashion. Meanwhile, traditional leather is facing increasing scrutiny. A 2023 report found that major luxury brands still source leather linked to Amazon deforestation, intensifying pressure on the industry to find viable, transparent alternatives.
Luxury brands are watching closely. In 2024, Balenciaga quietly began testing Faircraft’s in vitro samples for its handbag prototypes, while Loewe and Stella McCartney have both committed to piloting new materials with the company’s Paris lab this year. Faircraft’s lab, nestled in a converted textile atelier in the city’s 10th arrondissement, serves not just as a production facility but as an R&D hub where designers can work directly with the material.
Stella McCartney, a long-time advocate of animal-free fashion, has previously worked with Mylo, a mushroom-based leather alternative developed by Bolt Threads. But with Bolt Threads halting its operations in 2023 due to funding challenges, the field has narrowed considerably. Faircraft acquiring VitroLabs sends a signal that this is no longer about science fiction — it’s about building supply chains that are ready to scale.
Faircraft’s ambitions are nothing short of industrial. The company raised $15.8 million in late 2024 in a funding round backed by Kindred Ventures, Cap Horn, Bpifrance, Alliance for Impact, and Entrepreneur First. That capital is already being deployed toward machinery development and hiring engineering talent with backgrounds in tissue bioreactors and automotive upholstery.
The Paris location offers more than proximity to fashion houses. France is currently lobbying the European Union to adopt stricter environmental regulations around imported goods with high carbon or biodiversity impacts — a policy shift that could make in vitro leather not only a moral choice, but a compliance requirement.
For brands, the appeal is also aesthetic. Faircraft’s samples can be finished, dyed, and embossed to meet the same performance and visual standards as calfskin, the industry benchmark. The company says it is currently testing variations with luxury carmakers and high-end furniture brands, and that its material meets the Martindale abrasion standard required for automotive interiors.
As luxury consumers are increasingly vocal about ethics and origin stories, the rise of in vitro leather offers something rare: a new narrative. Not one of sacrifice or substitution, but one of design-led reinvention.
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