Welcoming fruitleatherNYC to the Genesis Portfolio
On behalf of Genesis, we are excited to announce our investment in fruitleatherNYC. fruitleatherNYC is on the forefront of the vegan leather revolution, starting with stylish bracelets sustainably manufactured from apple residue.
— Daniel Miyares (Venture Partner), Aiden Brasov, Alisha Gupta, Nikhil Guddati, Sam Lustberg, Sydney Fisher
The Problem
Today, the fashion industry generates a hugely detrimental impact on the environment, particularly through the jewelry market. Fashion currently accounts for a higher carbon footprint than international flights and shopping combined. Each year, more than a billion animals are slaughtered after living their whole lives in factory farms to create leather hides, and even purchasing faux leather (a vegan substitute) requires the environmentally intensive production of plastic fibers such as polyurethane. In parallel, a huge need exists for sustainable uses for produce, with approximately 37,000 tons of fruit and vegetable produce going to waste each year.
Emily Silver founded fruitleatherNYC to address these huge societal problems, realizing that growing consumer preferences for sustainable products open up a huge opportunity for vegan jewelry.
The Founder
In high school, Emily Silver was drawn to fashion as a way to express individuals’ personalities and values, taking classes at the prestigious Fashion Institute of Technology before heading to UT Austin to study Fashion Design. She graduated in May 2021 with a BS in Fashion Design and a minor in Business, and previously acquired deep fashion expertise as a design intern at Zac Posen’s House of Z and a product development intern at Proenza Schouler, where she contributed to the Spring/Summer 2020 Ready-to-wear collection.
Emily was inspired to create fruitleatherNYC during her study abroad trip to London in Spring 2020, where she immersed herself in the growing trend of sustainable fashion products. She spent a large portion of her free time in the London College of Fashion fabric library exploring sustainable fabrics, such as recycled polyester, organic cottons, bamboo-based fabrics, and vegan leathers.
After returning home at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she immediately began considering ways consumers could enjoy leather jewelry that was fundamentally more sustainably and ethically sourced, produced, and purchased. She began researching vegan leather fabric suppliers, sourcing leathers made from a variety of organic sources such as apple skin, cacti, grapes, wine corks, mushrooms, and mangos, and personally testing the materials. Soon after, Emily determined that leather made from residuals from apple juice production represented a perfect balance of longevity, comfort, and appearance, while having a very low impact on the environment.
How’s fruitleatherNYC Doing
fruitleatherNYC already has hit significant milestones: generating over $5000 in revenue from 100+ bracelet sales, agreeing to terms with three retail stores to sell the product, and creating a strong social media presence centered around sustainability and simple fashion. Emily is working hard to make her most recent drop a success, and is planning to enter another retail store in the next month. Her newest products are available on her website here.
Why I Led This Deal by Daniel Miyares
I’m a bit of a laggard when it comes to fashion trends, but it wasn’t difficult to see that Emily was tapping into a huge opportunity — the entire vegan fashion market just for women grew to nearly $400B in 2019. With Emily’s deep experience in fashion design and sourcing, and demonstrated traction from a product with a strong brand following, growing sales, and sound unit economics, we believe that she’s the right founder to capitalize on this opportunity. If she does, she’ll have launched a sustainable venture that changes the world for the better. We couldn’t be more excited about this deal and look forward to our future partnership with fruitleatherNYC.
Written by Daniel Miyares (Venture Partner)
