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Our Story

Our Story

A crew of innovators using science to replace plastic and leather with plants.

Meet our Founder

von Holzhausen began when former car designer Vicki von Holzhausen decided to make a vegan leather that could rival animal leather.

Driven by science, von Holzhausen researched, experimented, materially innovated and developed a sustainable leather alternative.

She tested it out as a handbag. It worked! A company was born. And ever since, we’ve been developing more leathers and making more products.

Now the company is focused on an ambition much bigger than handbags (sorry handbags). We’re taking on climate change by creating the plant-based materials of the future.

Today, we supply materials to all industries: fashion, furniture, airplanes and even cars—right back where it all began.

Our Materials

If you knew how obsessed with material innovation we are, you might not want to hang out with us.

OK…we’ll tell you. Plant power, recycled fibers, materials that reintegrate with nature and making leather extinct is all we talk or think about every day.

We believe in the power of plants—and in transforming discarded materials into remarkable ones.

We believe we can live in a sustainable way on Earth, in relationship with Earth.

We call this approach Material Innovation, and we’re glad to have you with us on this journey.

The Conscious Code

Daily decisions can be complicated when your whole focus is making the planet well again. Our solution is The Conscious Code, a set of standards on which we’ll never, ever compromise.

Everything we do meets a combination of these criteria:

  • Vegan and cruelty-free (100%!)
  • Low carbon
  • Non-toxic
  • Ethically made
  • Minimum waste
  • Recycled or upcycled
  • Giving back
  • Designed to last

WBENC Certification

von Holzhausen is proud to be certified as a Women's Business Enterprise (WBE) through the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation's leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women.

The WBENC Certification process has confirmed that our business is at least 51% owned, operated, and controlled by a woman or women, and has the appropriate structure and strategic business planning and implementation in place.

By including women-owned businesses among their partners, corporations demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity, which in turn empowers women as leaders and brings about a more diverse, balanced and sustainable economy.

Giving Back

Are you an ecological thinker too?

You are?!

Then you know that as residents of a giant ecosystem called Earth, everything is connected and no one issue can be silo’ed off and treated as separate.

While saving the planet, we also support Hope Gardens Family Center for Women and Children, a sanctuary from homelessness for women and children in downtown LA.

About von Holzhausen Video Poster
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