A partnership between biotech startup Lab-Grown Leather, genomic engineering firm The Organoid Company and creative agency VML, T-Rex Leather is lab-grown leather created using the reconstructed collagen sequences of a t-rex. Some more details while I speculate how long until Texas Roadhouse is grilling dino steaks.

To engineer leather from an extinct species, the team began with fossilized T.rex collagen sequences. Using advanced computational biology and AI modelling, scientists predicted and reconstructed the remaining genetic information required to form a complete collagen blueprint. This fully synthesized DNA was inserted into a carrier cell line. Billions of these engineered cells were then cultivated using Lab-Grown Leather’s proprietary Advanced Tissue Engineering Platform (ATEP™) and integrated into its Elemental-X™ product stream.

Unlike many alternative materials, Lab-Grown Leather’s scaffold-free approach allows the cells to create their own natural structure, resulting in a material that is structurally identical to traditional leather. The outcome is a durable, repairable, biodegradable and fully traceable leather – grown without animal slaughter, deforestation, or chromium-heavy tanning processes.

Well that’s…something. The first lab-grown t-rex leather was given to designer Enfin Levé, who created the bag seen here. It was recently up for auction and estimated to fetch around $500K, but topped out at a paltry $150K. Presumably because, you know– “It doesn’t have giant scales.” Right? If you’re gonna pay half a million dollars for a bag you want people to know it’s dragon.