Now You Can Wear Fish Skin Instead of Leather – and Help Fishers’ Wives Learn to Read and Write

A Brazilian-Italian designer is contributing to sustainable fashion by transforming fish skin that would otherwise be discarded into elegant leather bags and cuffs.

Barbara della Rovere began her endeavor in 2016, working with fishermen’s wives in Kenya and southern Brazil to create luxurious products that are tougher and more durable than cow leather.

“They treat the skins, and all the remains – bones, flesh and scales – become fertiliser for the local farmers,” she highlights. “So the entire byproducts that would normally be thrown away are used. It’s 100% sustainable.”

The designer also highlights that some of the women she works with were previously illiterate, but they can now read and have their own source of income.