Vegan leather boxing glove throws haymaker at cowhide

In Mexico, sporting goods firm Sanabul has created boxing gloves made from cactus leather produced by startup Desserto.  Dubbed Los Cactus, the gloves are available on Sanabul’s online store for $250 and are partially biodegradable.

“There’s a misconception that a traditional cowhide boxing glove is the ideal glove. And we’re looking to change that,” Imran Jawaid, Sanabul founder and CEO tells Green Matters. “Since day one, we’ve always used non-animal based materials, and that’s a pretty good starting point for us, but it’s definitely not where we want to be. Synthetic materials have a much lower carbon footprint than animal-based materials, but they’re not the ideal solution because some of them are made from petroleum byproducts … Our goal has always been to look for more sustainable materials.”

After researching options, Desserto’s material proved up to the heavyweight task of resisting cracks punch after punch. “My goal has always been to make sure that the product itself works well and that it will hold up because there’s no point in releasing a ‘sustainable’ glove if the product just breaks down or falls apart on you,” Jawaid adds.

Desserto was founded by Adrian López Velarde and Marte Cázarez in 2019.