Inspiramais elevates Brazil’s legacy of leather with sustainability focus

Stepping into Brazil’s bi-annual Inspiramis fair you are greeted with a towering installation of upcycled material created by Sao Paolo-born interdisciplinary artist Luciano Pinheiro who patchworks, braids, and macramés fabric remnants together. “I like to think of unconventional materials as something noble, desirable,” said the son of a fisherman who boasts of having brought the first natural dyed collection to Brazil's fashion week. While upcycling in itself is nothing new to fashion the earnestness of the artist's statement sets the tone for the Inspiramais 2024 fair. It's proud of its traditions but ambitious for innovation, it’s regional but eyeing international cross over, it's operating in one of the industry’s most polluting sectors but vowing to do better.

1000 new materials including skins, leather, textiles and synthetics; soles, accessories and components; design and industrial services; and the latest vegan alternatives for the footwear, clothing and furniture industries are all on display across two days. But leave your comparisons with Lineapelle or other global leather fairs in the parking lot. Even Inspiramais Research and Design Coordinator Walter Rodrigues agrees. “We are not trying to compete with Italian fairs,” he says in opening remarks to journalists on the eve of the fair. “We are trying to add something new to the conversation.”

Held in Porto Alegre in Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande Do Sul, the fair, in its 27th edition, is the biggest materials fair in Latin America and is home to about 150 exhibitors. It generally brings in around 7000 visitors but this year, due to incentive from the Brazilian government, invites were extended to more international journalists and buyers than usual.

The shadow of Covid still looms as visitors must exhibit proof of vaccination before boarding a flight to Brazil and masks are necessary in its airports but not at the fair. The pandemic’s reduced notion of globalization brought Brazil’s leather industry the opportunity to focus on homegrown strengths. According to Inspiramais statistics, the industry which includes 2400 companies and employs 100,000 people brought in 421 million dollars in 2022 with record-level exportation to 77 countries.

“Fashion is 50 percent inspiration and 50 percent business,” Rodrigues tells journalists. But the inaugural Inspiramais held in 2004 in Sao Paolo focused solely on business. To its detriment, explains Inspiramais designer Julia Webber: “Seventeen years ago there was no Brazilian fashion industry, the emphasis was all on copying what others were doing.” But through its association with Assintecal, the organization which brings together companies working in leather goods, the fair began prioritizing design, originality and innovation. Inspiramais moved south to Porto Alegre three years ago to be central to the region’s high concentration of artisans and tanneries and leather-making expertise that has been passed down through generations and which means that all components of apparel and accessories can be produced domestically.

This edition of the fair hosts buyers from 11 different countries including Portugal, Mexico, Spain, Italy and the US. "At Inspiramais, we want to be facilitators,” says Rodrigues. Many of the exhibitors speak only Portuguese but there are English and Spanish translators available for buyers who wish to understand more about the tanneries and processes. Leathers presented are high on color, texture and shine, many boasting chrome-free and vegetable tanning.

Rodrigues prefers to replace the usual terminology of "spring/summer" or "fall/winter 2024", which he believes affixes an unnecessary and outdated expiration date to materials, with first and second semester 2024. He also breaks the materials down into a percentage pyramid for visitors. 10 percent of the fair's leathers fall into the Innovation category most suited to the higher end of the market or to add value to a more commercial collection; 30 percent are categorized as Strategy/Process emphasizing technique and textural proposals; and 60 percent represent Know-How and are designed to have mass appeal.

Inspiramais celebrates sustainable leather and vegan alternatives

The leather sector's wasteful and polluting practices are well-known but, says Rodrigues, “We are breathing sustainability at Inspiramais.” Indeed the word is uppermost in every presentation or address during the two days. Brazil has one of the largest commercial cattle herds in the world supplying its meat industry which also lands it in the top three leather producers. It has its own certification process the CSCB (Brazilian Leather Certificate of Sustainability) which is supported by the Brazilian Leather Project, an initiative of the CICB (Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (apexBrasil) to encourage the inclusion of Brazil’s leathers in foreign markets. Manufacturers must fulfill criteria related to water consumption, energy consumption, restricted substances and worker health and safety. The CSBC is also signed by ICEC (the Italian Quality Certification Institute for the Leather Sector). Another important certification is the Origem Sustentável (Sustainable Origin) which is the only ESG and sustainability certification in the world aimed at companies operating in the footwear chain. But for visitors used to seeing the more well-known UK-founded LWG Certification, it is less visible. When asked about this, some leather producers at Inspiramais voiced their frustration at the elitism of LWG and its failure to recognize how the environment and climate among other factors render some of its criteria impossible to fulfill for Brazil’s leather industry.

For shoes and accessories fish skin has been growing in visibility and, considering Brazil is one of the world's most productive fishing nations, skins which were previously discarded by the food industry are on proud display, notably from one of the country's largest freshwater fish, the pirarucu, presented by pioneering organic tannery Nova Kaeru, and tilapia from Tilápia Leather.

In the Creative Connection hub, a section of micro-companies, co-ops and start-ups from all over Brazil display products often from indigenous sources that are a blend of science and craft. The hub is central to the fair, the idea being to spark relationships between the smaller agile brands and the exhibitors with large businesses that could potentially integrate their products. “On the main floor, materials, products, techniques are geared towards high-volume business and it’s hard to have the openness of the small designers,” Marmei Carminatti, Assintecal consultant, tells FashionUnited. “But the Connection space is important as the exhibitors show very creative and artisanal ideas that can potentially be adopted on an industrial scale.”

While the developments in PET and mycelium will be old news to an international visitor, the eco-friendly offerings that are innate to the people and place are of interest. The start-up Huna has created a biomaterial G.Tex from the husk of the Guarana fruit native to the Amazon basin for a vegan, biodegradable alternative to leather. Parcoa Eco which develops red clay dyeing on banana leaf is an ancient knowledge which arrived in Brazil via African slaves. Marquetry and soft textiles meet in striking jewelry using wood waste by Amazônia Ancestral. And Grupo JR Soluções takes Brazil’s competence in creating all components of footwear to a sustainable level by creating an at-home shoe assembly kit with all recycled components.

The next edition of Inspiramais is to be held in July 2023.

FashionUnited was invited to attend Inspiramais in Porto Alegre, Brazil.