Gold Coast Gives Vegan Cactus Leather The Thumbs Up!

Founder Monique Montfroy launches sustainable vegan leather handbags to Gold Coast.

Over 12 months of hard work Texcoco Collective officially launched their first range of vegan cactus leather handbags to the Gold Coast community, on Sunday 13th March. The event was to showcase the products and introduce a new way of thinking about our purchasing choices and what we should consider when buying items, such as handbags.

"I've never heard of cactus leather! This is awesome"

Was the resounding comment being made during the event. Opening up discussions about more sustainable and ethical materials is exactly what Texcoco Collective set out to achieve. Hearing the positive feedback about the product and material was inspirational.

As the saying goes, "people don't know, what they don't know," and we have the opportunity to widen our knowledge and explore new ways of doing things.

Whats so good about cactus leather anyway?

Was the next major question on everyone's mind. As Monique explained in her speech during the day, cactus leather is an innovation from Mexico by the company Desserto. Desserto's cactus leather is organic, partially biodegradable, soft, durable, and has such high quality, it can be used to make clothing, accessories and furniture.

Cactus leather is a more sustainable and ethical alternative to traditional animal skins as it grows in conditions that no other plants can, it doesn't need any irrigation system and obviously harms no animals. Cacti also sucks extremely high amounts of Co2 from our atmosphere and the Desserto farm is totally organic, not using any herbicides or pesticides.

Bringing creatives together

Hosted by the funky artisan cafe and creative hub, Morena Espresso in Mermaid Beach. With cacti decorating the corners of this light and airy space was a fitting choice for Texcoco Collective to introduce their Mexican handcrafted handbags to Gold Coast. Morena Espresso praise themselves on being a spot for entrepreneurs to hang out, make connections, exhibit work and was the perfect setting to launch a small business dedicated to giving credit to skills artisans and showcase the startup journey.

Bringing a calm, melodic vibe the room was thanks to the incredible vocals of Elisa Fuks and harmonious guitar by Vini Melo, Brazilian born, Gold Coast locals. Blending a mix of popular English songs, dotted with some Portuguese classics this brought a fun and upbeat feeling to the event. 

Tasty tacos and nachos where served up by Holy Jala's new new food truck to keep the Mexican vibes rolling through the afternoon. The Holy Jala food truck is an expansion of Holy Jala Restaurant in Coolangatta.

43 Trees Planted

For every bag sold by Texcoco Collective we donate $1 to plant one tree with partners at One Tree Planted. To continue the initiative, the event was a free registration where every online registration went towards planting one tree. Together we planted 43 trees to regenerate bushfire and flood affected areas of Australia.

Planting trees in Australia goes towards creating new habitat for koalas, enhances biodiversity and promotes sustainable and regenerative agriculture with landowners. 

Launch Event Success!

The event was a great success thanks to all the could attend and to everyone that has supported Texcoco Collective since its initial stages. This is just the begining for this sustainable small business. The future looks promising when the feedback from so many people is so positive. People are ready to start thinking about where their products come from and its time we all start considering adopting a less impactful lifestyle.