The market’s message reached Polestar ‘s top management loud and clear. The Swedish electric car brand, which just lost Volvo ‘s stake, now supports leather and the goodness of the tanning industry. The novelty is not so much in the partnership with Bridge of Weir, which was already its supplier of materials. But in the political value, we would dare say, of the post that Polestar dedicates to the Scottish group. After the thunderous vegan shift announced by CEO Thomas Ingenlath in 2019 and the more discreet turn to the “vegan first” mentality in 2022, Polestar has returned to practicing serene pluralism on materials and preaching the positive aspects of the tanning industry. In short, in less than a decade it went from saying that “by not using leather you save the cows” to recognizing that the supply chain is “circular”, because it recovers waste from animal husbandry. Report by La Conceria.

Polestar now supports leather

Polestar sales are not going according to plan and the brand’s weakness on the market has pushed the Volvo group to sell its share of the company. Our feeling that the mini-crisis has pushed the leaders to abandon a certain superficiality on the marketing level is confirmed in the post of 13 February, which hosts the interview with James Muirhead, a member of the family that has led Bridge of Weir for eight generations. The intervention does not reveal arcana, but it is still music to our ears. “Ours is a circular business – explains Muirhead –: we take care of leather, which we repurpose and give value to, which would otherwise be destined for landfill”.

From vegan first to vegan maybe: Polestar now supports leather from vegan first to vegan maybe: Polestar now supports leather.

The turn is complete

The first correction, we were saying, had already been recorded in 2022, when Polestar with a certain ease (i.e. practicing, but not flaunting the choice), inserted leather among the materials for model 2. This page closes the intransigent vegan season of the brand. “There are many untruths out there – continues Muirhead –. For example, that it is not a by-product of the food industry, which it is.” If anyone wants to know who supported and helped circulate certain theses, reread what the CEO of Polestar said in 2019.