Stella McCartney and Veuve Clicquot Collaborate on Next-Gen Leather Alternative and World-First Luxury Accessories Crafted from Grape Waste

Stella McCartney and Veuve Clicquot have collaborated on a pioneering grape-based alternative to animal leather – embodying both LVMH Maisons’ shared values and long-term commitments to sustainability, circularity and regenerative practices. The next-gen material is made from the by-products of Veuve Clicquot’s harvest and has been used to handcraft six Stella McCartney accessories, a selection of which debuted at the Summer 2024 runway show during Paris Fashion Week. Stella McCartney is additionally the guest of honour at Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Woman Award 2023 in Paris.

Both Maisons were founded by pioneering women who disrupted and drove change within their respective fields, with legacies rooted in craftsmanship, passion and innovations that created new, better possibilities. Stella McCartney is widely regarded as fashion’s conscience – inspiring others within the industry and beyond to pursue cruelty-free and sustainable alternatives, having never used leather or fur, whilst Madame Clicquot contributed to the shape of the modern champagne bottle and invented the riddling table, which is still in use today. Her innovations revolutionised the champagne industry, which additionally included the creation of vintage champagne and blended rosé champagne, and she has been recognised by her peers as ‘La Grande Dame de la Champagne’.

Continuing this legacy of innovation, Veuve Clicquot has been exploring next-generation materials for the past decade, with disruptive packaging made from vegetal waste since 2010 and now produces all its gift boxes from hemp, a soil regenerative and CO2-fixing plant. The by-product used in the new material consists of manually collected grape stems. These elements are sourced with full traceability from the environmentally certified Grand Cru vineyard of Bouzy in Champagne, which Madame Clicquot herself purchased 200 years ago.

The grapes are grown using regenerative practices, helping to restore local biodiversity, soil health and sequester carbon, and are handpicked to ensure the highest quality of the material. Stella McCartney has also pioneered regenerative agriculture in fashion, having supported the SOKTAS regenerative cotton project in Turkey since 2019, in partnership with LVMH. The Maison also launched the world’s first regenerative cotton luxury garment at its Summer 2023 runway show.

Stella McCartney will use the Veuve Clicquot grape-based alternative to craft three iconic Frayme bags, a bottle holder housing a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label and two Elyse sandals, which additionally have a platform wedge made from recycled cork collected from Veuve Clicquot as a mix of pre- and post-consumer waste from its cellars in Reims.

The vegan accessories will be made available for pre-order soon, delivering in March 2024. The material solves for LVMH’s leading sources of greenhouse gas emissions, leather and winemaking, and was created in under 18 months – an incredible feat and speed in the innovation space.

Multiple studies have shown that vegan alternatives can have less than half the carbon footprint of animal leather, which kills over 1 billion creatures annually (PETA) and is driving the destruction of key ecosystems like the Amazon (WWF). By creating a next-gen biobased material using waste, Stella McCartney and Veuve Clicquot are pioneering a better way that is kinder to animals, the environment and is both scalable and sustainable.