Melina Bucher turned her dream of sustainable luxury fashion into reality in 2019. The idea of her bag label of the same name: a new generation of vegan luxury that combines the highest quality of workmanship and sophisticated design with animal-friendly production. Compliance with and respect for animal and human rights play just as important a role for the Mannheim bag lover as the design. Consistently avoiding animal products was a matter of course for the animal lover. From the beginning. You will look in vain for leather, glue, wax or color pigments of animal origin in her products. This is what brought Melina the PETA-approved vegan certification for her label.
No plastic. No animal suffering. No bad conscience. No short-lived trends. No compromise.
However, she was not completely satisfied with the first generation of her vegan luxury handbags. Her bags came with a compromise she was unwilling to accept. The vegan solutions of the time were based on synthetic materials. On plastic. With her plastic-free handbags, Melina offers consumers a new, uncompromising bag experience.
Many want to make the switch from animal leather, but automatically associate plastic with vegan fashion. There has been so much in this market in recent years. The solution is here now. And there is so much more to come in the years to come!
Melina Bucher bags are a statement against fast fashion and for animals.
That is why the Mannheim native took the next consistent step in the direction of social and ecological responsibility, as well as recyclability, fairly soon after founding the company with a consistent focus on transparency and sustainability. A year and a half of research in collaboration with the US bio-tech start-up Natural Fiber Welding preceded the launch of the BAILEY (December 2021) by Melina Bucher bags. That’s how long it took until the first handbags made of Mirum®, a plant-based, recyclable leather, were developed.
The new generation of vegan luxury: vegan and plastic-free.
But the effort was worth it. The result is 100 percent bio-based, i.e. plastic-free, vegan luxury bags whose feel is perfectly modeled on animal leather. After use, the bag can be made into new, equivalent material or returned to nature in the form of nutrients.
With my philosophy I stand for honest, transparent and ethical luxury fashion. I want to encourage consumers and other brands to change. Melina Bucher
Melina’s mission? Innovative, animal-free materials and upscale design aesthetics, paired with uncompromising transparency (the label provides information on all steps of the supply chain with the help of an interactive transparency map). Mission completed.
For me, the lack of values such as transparency and accountability has nothing to do with luxury
The success proves her right: The dedicated game changer reached the first funding goal on Kickstarter on the first day.
This is hidden behind the material innovation Mirum®
Mirum® uses an innovative technology that exploits the potential of natural, FSC-certified rubber while using natural colorants, such as naturally derived charcoal, to avoid the use of plastics or synthetic colorants. It has a positive impact on greenhouse gas emissions, water scarcity and biodiversity as it does not require tanning, water production or dyeing.
The manufacturer’s first LCA results indicate a significant reduction in CO2 emissions of over 90% compared to conventional animal leather. Nevertheless, we do not stand still and the goal is to obtain the natural raw materials in the material as far as possible from waste and regenerative agriculture.
The bags are made in Ubrique Spain. Every step of our production is done by hand. Antonio worked with Melina Bucher for two years to find the best way to process this new material. The self-cast gold-plated metal accessories and the lining also come from the region. This keeps the transport routes as short as possible.
In addition to pilot projects with Porsche and Ralph Lauren, the BAILEY Bag by Melina Bucher is one of the first products made from plant-based Mirum® leather to hit the market. For this, Melina Bucher was nominated for the German Sustainability Award 2021 in the category “sustainable design”.
Consistently vegan
Not only her handbags are vegan. Her company too. She uses vegan office products, because animal materials are also often used for paper, business cards, cardboard boxes and adhesive tapes. In addition, parts of the proceeds are donated to small farms and organizations that are committed to animal welfare. So protect farm animals from death and improve life in animal shelters.
Good to know: Trudy, Indy, Engel – every Melina Bucher bag is dedicated to a special animal from Melina’s life and tells a very personal story.
The Melina Bucher vision? To create perfectly circular products. The products should be certified recyclable. In addition to the materials, the auxiliary materials and processes are also carefully examined. A 3D configurator is also being planned, with which you can put together your very own favorite bag, which will be manufactured using a made-to-order approach.