What Is eLeather? The Material Behind Our Collections

eLeather is a low-impact engineered leather made from reclaimed leather fiber instead of a new hide. Wearsos works with it in two ways: it's already the material inside the retired Southwest Airlines seat covers we upcycle, and we also receive additional colors of it as a direct donation from Generation Phoenix, the company that manufactures it.

Two different stories, one material

It's worth separating these clearly, because they're not the same story. The retired Southwest Airlines seat covers are the waste stream: seats that come out of service and would otherwise sit in storage or be discarded. The people of the Mollejones rural community in Costa Rica are the ones that disarms them by hand, and the eLeather becomes the raw material for a Wearsos piece at our workshop in Turialba. That's the upcycling story.

The eLeather that arrives directly from Generation Phoenix is different. It isn't waste we're rescuing. It's a donation: Generation Phoenix gave us additional colors of their material outright, expanding what our artisans in Turrialba have to work with beyond whatever comes off a decommissioned seat. We're grateful for it because it's a generous, direct contribution to the workshop.

What eLeather actually is

Most people assume "leather" only comes from a fresh hide. eLeather works differently: Generation Phoenix takes leather fiber left over from tanneries and other leather production and engineers it into a new, high-performance sheet material. It's built to hold up to years of wear, cleaning, and the fire-safety standards airlines require, which is exactly why Southwest specifies it for seat covers in the first place. Generation Phoenix also runs its production on renewable energy and recycles the majority of its process water, which is part of why we were comfortable building a product line around their material.

Kerry Reals, 2023.

Where it shows up

eLeather runs through more of the Wearsos catalog than just one line: crossbody bags, totes, backpacks, side slings, belt bags, toiletry bags, passport holders, travel kits, luggage tags — you name it, eLeather is in it. Every one of those pieces is built from eLeather that either came off a Southwest seat or arrived from Generation Phoenix as a donation.

The Do Good line is where that connection to Southwest Airlines is most direct: every piece in it carries part of an actual decommissioned seat, and with it, $110 USD in wages paid back.

Since 2023, Wearsos has upcycled more than 1,000 retired Southwest Airlines seat covers, keeping that material out of the waste stream, and put more than 820 meters of donated eLeather from Generation Phoenix directly into production.

Check out our Do Good line here.