Revoltech develops sustainable alternatives to leather and artificial leather from hemp and algae. The Darmstadt-based start-up received the German Design Award 2025 for its bio-based material innovation LOVR. The innovative leather alternative is to be used as standard in Volkswagen cars from 2028.
by Martina Metzner
The young start-up Revoltech, which has been making a name for itself for three years with leather alternatives made from hemp and more recently algae, has settled in the heart of Darmstadt’s young and vibrant scientific community. Revoltech uses the process engineering laboratories of Darmstadt Technical University (TU), located in a venerable wing of the building right in the city centre. “A special stroke of luck,” says Lucas Fuhrmann as he leads us through the labyrinth of rooms with tiled tables, material storage areas and experimental setups. Fuhrmann, born in 1991, is one of the three founders of the start-up, along with Julian Mushövel and Montgomery Wagner, who want to make the world a better place. The three know each other from their school days in Friedberg, Hesse, and found each other again during their studies. They studied philosophy, political science, economics and mechanical engineering rather than design.
More Eco-Friendly Than Leather
Today, a team of 15 scientists at Revoltech are researching the future of LOVR (hemp) and MATTR (algae), as they call their material developments. LOVR stands for leather-free, oil-free, vegan and residue-free. MATTR is a play on the word ‘matter’ (because it matters). With these purely bio-based flexible surface materials, Revoltech aims to offer an alternative to conventional leather or artificial leather. The advantages are obvious: leather has to go through a chemical process to become usable. It is also associated with a lot of animal suffering. Synthetic leather, on the other hand, is based on crude oil and often ends up in the environment – for example in the oceans, where whole islands of plastic are floating around. Compared to conventional leather, LOVR produces only 0.3 per cent of CO2 emissions and is particularly resource-friendly as it is naturally renewable. The hemp-based material is fully compostable and can be dyed with mineral dyes. The feel of the latest generation of the material is soft, with a velour-like surface that feels dry and natural. It is almost odourless and has some texture. The first versions of the material were more like hard paper.
Super Material Hemp
Why not produce material from agricultural waste, thought Lucas Fuhrmann, who during an internship with a textile manufacturer in Mexico was able to take a look behind the scenes of so-called green fashion production. He was disappointed. So he decided to find out what real alternatives could look like. First with banana fibres. But then he realised that to really reduce CO2 emissions and save resources, you have to use local raw materials. So he came up with hemp – a material full of superpowers: it is easy to grow, grows fast, is fairly resistant to pests and requires little water. And hemp is particularly good at binding and converting CO2. As a result, this super material is currently being used in many areas. The construction industry in particular has discovered hemp – for insulation, panels or bricks for dry construction, for example. But hemp is also increasingly in demand in fashion, food and medicine.
‘Why not produce material from agricultural waste?’
– Lucas Fuhrmann
Existing Procedure
At Revoltech, the hemp fibres are delivered already prepared, then mixed with other bio-based ingredients such as a resin and finally water to form a pulp. This is pulled through an industrial machine, pressed, flattened and dried. A small test machine is located on the TU Darmstadt campus. However, the actual production takes place at contract manufacturers in Germany. Revoltech does not want to disclose the exact location – nor the exact list of ingredients used by LOVR. The hemp fibres come from France and Germany, where they are produced as agricultural waste and would not otherwise be used. It is industrial hemp, which has a very low psychoactive THC content. There is not yet an official class of material under which the new material falls – so the single-layer surface material is usually classified as a textile.
Big Scale
The Revoltech team is thinking big: the founders want to get into the big industries. To this end, the start-up is receiving funding from three sources: B.Value, the city of Darmstadt and the state of Hesse. And things are looking good: The response has been great, and the order books are full. LOVR also won the German Design Award 2025 in the category ‘Excellent Product Design – Materials and Surfaces’. The company is currently working with the fashion industry, particularly in the shoe sector, as well as with the automotive industry. The latter is particularly interested, says Fuhrmann, because it has to work more with sustainable materials due to regulations to reduce CO2 emissions. Revoltech works with Kia and Volkswagen, as well as Kreis Ledermanufaktur, Hubl & Hubl, ID Genève, Gerald Jakoby, Les Mains Bleues and Annika Sewing. While most of the projects are still in the experimental stage, watches with LOVR bracelets by ID Genève will soon be launched.
Collaboration With Volkswagen
Revoltech is pursuing a particularly ambitious collaboration project with Volkswagen: the surface material made from hemp is set to go into series production in VW cars in 2028. The Wolfsburg-based carmaker is currently working flat out to develop sustainable materials in order to design cars in line with the circular economy of the future. Components in its cars are already made from recycled materials: seat covers, headliners and carpets are in some cases made from up to 100 per cent recycled PET. The development team in Wolfsburg is still testing and researching the use of LOVR in cars. Experts in materials technology, design, component development and innovation are enthusiastic about LOVR. Volkswagen designer Heike Hustedt discovered the material on LinkedIn. Her colleague Rut Sawodny adds: “We learn a lot from working with Revoltech.
Intensive Collaboration
In the future, LOVR will be used, for example, for interior trim or decorative surfaces – but not yet for seats, where the material requirements are particularly stringent. However, the material properties required for the visible interior are also high: LOVR must be water-repellent, abrasion-resistant, hard-wearing, durable, easy to clean and UV-resistant. A lot of development work is needed to ensure that a 100% natural material such as industrial hemp meets the requirements of the automotive industry. “The first presentations of the hemp leather alternative to customers, for example at the IAA 2023, were very promising,” reveals Dr Thomas Taddigs, Head of Interior Materials Technology at VW. Depending on the application and customer, Revoltech changes the blend and develops the material with its business partners on an application-specific basis. There is currently no standardised LOVR material, but there will be in the future.
About the Author
Martina Metzner is a design and architecture journalist with a focus on socio-ecological transformation. For her, good design and sustainability go hand in hand. After studying journalism, Italian philology and psychology, she worked in editorial departments for eleven years, first at TextilWirtschaft and then at Stylepark. Since 2018, she has been working as a freelancer for leading trade and consumer magazines and is head of the editorial team at the German Design Club.
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