Science & Technology

Firm announces plan to create world's first Tyrannosaurus rex leather

By T.K. Randall
April 27, 2025

Image: Tyrannosaurus Rex Holotype
Credit: ScottRobertAnselmo / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) When John Hammond opened the doors to Jurassic Park, he may have missed a trick in failing to realize that the skin of deceased dinosaurs could be used to make some very expensive leather.

Now, though, international marketing firm VML is planning to skip the whole 'resurrecting the dinosaurs' part of the equation and is instead going straight to manufacturing leather created using dinosaur DNA.

In a press release, the firm stated that it - alongside several other partner firms - was making a "high-quality alternative to traditional leather that's cruelty-free and eco-friendly".To achieve this, the team will use a fragment of collagen that was found in a T. rex fossil back in 1988 in Montana as a blueprint for "next-generation, lab-cultivated materials".

The leather itself is created using a technique that "allows cells to create their own natural structure, resulting in a material that is structurally identical to traditional leather."

So could we one day see T. rex leather seats in cars and T. rex leather handbags ?

Perhaps - but the jury will be out on exactly how much of it actually comes from a T. rex.

Source: Mail Online

Tags: Dinosaur