How Green Hermitage Is Building a Sustainable Accessories Brand With Plant-Based Leather

A broken tote bag on a Delhi Metro ride led Gayatri Varun to question the materials behind everyday accessories. That moment eventually became the starting point for Green Hermitage, a sustainable luxury accessories brand she co-founded with her husband, Anubhav Pratap Rai, in 2021.

The brand makes bags, wallets, backpacks and other accessories using plant-based and other alternative materials, with a focus on sustainable sourcing, artisan manufacturing and end-of-use recovery.

For Gayatri, the idea emerged from a simple problem: finding a work bag that did not rely on either animal leather or conventional PU leather.

“I found most options for a workplace were either made from animal leather or PU leather, which is a plastic derivative. It led me to plant leather (bio-leather), and I procured some samples,” she recalls.

What began as a search for a personal alternative gradually evolved into a business built around sustainable materials and conscious consumption.

From Law to Climate and Sustainability

Gayatri’s path to entrepreneurship was not a conventional one.

After completing law school in 2014, she worked as in-house legal counsel for an FMCG company. A few years later, she left her job and moved to Africa to be closer to her parents.

While in Uganda around 2015, she was introduced to the climate-change sector.

“At a get-together, I met someone who was working in that space, and what he described resonated with me immediately,” she says.

Gayatri initially had little formal background in climate science but began learning about carbon, sustainability and climate policy from the ground up.

Over the following four years, she worked across Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania, taking on roles ranging from intern and volunteer to consultant.

Her work exposed her to both grassroots climate initiatives and government-level policy.

She worked in communities with limited access to electricity, contributed to small off-grid solar initiatives and later worked with the Ugandan government on its five-year climate-change programme.

By 2016, her experience included work with grassroots organisations, a carbon-access company and the UN Clean Development Mechanism.

A Master’s Degree in Climate Change

Although Gayatri had accumulated practical experience, she wanted a formal academic foundation to complement it.

She enrolled in a Master’s in Climate Change and Sustainable Development at the University of Leeds, receiving a fully funded scholarship that included an integrated fieldwork component.

After completing the programme, she returned to India.

Her work increasingly focused on climate campaigns, sustainability projects and sustainability metrics. Over time, that experience brought her closer to questions around consumption and production.

The idea of Green Hermitage emerged from that intersection of sustainability and consumer products.

The Search for Plant-Based Leather

Before launching the brand, Gayatri and Anubhav experimented with different plant-based materials.

They sourced samples made from materials including:

• Cactus
• Apple
• Banana
• Eucalyptus
• Coconut
• Cork
• Hemp
• Canvas

The founders conducted internal tests to understand how the materials performed under different conditions, including moisture, water exposure, heat and cold.

The testing process was important because durability was one of the biggest questions surrounding alternatives to conventional leather.

For Gayatri, the evaluation begins with laboratory reports and information about the material’s composition.

She says technological improvements have helped manufacturers address some of the durability challenges associated with plant-based materials.

The company says customers who have owned some of its products for four or five years have generally reported few issues.

The Pandemic Became an Unexpected Turning Point

The COVID-19 pandemic created a major challenge just as Green Hermitage was trying to turn the concept into a business.

The founders needed artisans who were willing to work with an unfamiliar material.

They eventually found a group of migrant workers who had remained in Delhi during the pandemic.

The artisans agreed to experiment with plant-based leather.

“The first samples that came back were fantastic — the material’s properties and texture were genuinely impressive, and we became convinced there was real market merit,” Gayatri says.

The founders subsequently hired a designer, incorporated the company and began building the supply chain.

It took approximately eight months to organise materials, manufacturers, vendors and an artisan unit.

The first collection was then designed, sampled and tested over another six-month period.

Seven Artisans Make Green Hermitage Products

Today, Green Hermitage’s products are handcrafted by a team of seven artisans at a small workshop in Vasant Kunj, Delhi.

The company says its approach to sustainability extends beyond simply replacing animal leather with plant-based materials.

Its supply-chain assessment begins with the origin of the crops used for materials and their potential impact on soil. It then considers transportation, processing, electricity and water requirements during manufacturing.

Product design is also evaluated from a sustainability perspective.

The company considers the number of components used in a product and how easily those components can eventually be separated and recycled or reused.

Green Hermitage Is Increasing Local Sourcing

When Green Hermitage began, approximately 80% of its bio-leather was imported, according to Gayatri.

At the time, international manufacturers offered what the company considered a higher level of material sophistication.

The business has since shifted substantially towards Indian sourcing.

Gayatri says around 95% of the company’s materials are now sourced from India.

The brand works with several plant-based and alternative materials, including apple, banana, cactus, eucalyptus, coconut, cork, canvas and hemp.

The shift towards local sourcing is significant for the company because it can potentially reduce dependence on international suppliers while creating closer links between the brand and its domestic supply chain.

A Take-Back Programme for Used Products

Green Hermitage has also introduced an end-of-use programme.

Customers can return products rather than simply discarding them.

The company then dismantles the products and attempts to reuse as many components as possible. Green Hermitage says the remaining materials are biodegradable.

Such programmes are increasingly relevant to fashion and accessories companies because the environmental impact of a product does not end when it leaves the store.

Designing products for repair, reuse, disassembly and recovery can influence how much material ultimately becomes waste.

From Online Marketplaces to Physical Retail

Green Hermitage has expanded beyond direct and organic customer acquisition.

Its products — including bags, wallets, backpacks and other accessories — are available through around 15 marketplaces in India, including Amazon, Myntra, AJIO and AJIO Luxe, according to the company.

It also has a physical presence in Noida and is working with partners to establish additional physical spaces.

Internationally, the brand sells in markets including the United States, the Middle East and Australia.

The company is also looking to deepen its presence in Oman and Australia, where it says it has seen encouraging customer response.

Green Hermitage Enters the B2B Market

The company has expanded into business-to-business sales as well.

Green Hermitage works with larger institutions on sustainable procurement and is a registered vendor with the Taj Group of Hotels.

Its institutional products include:

• Bar sets
• Utility kits
• Travel tags
• Toiletry bags
• Other customised accessories

The B2B segment gives the company another route to market beyond individual consumers and can potentially create larger, repeat procurement opportunities.

Building Awareness Is Still a Major Challenge

Despite growing interest in sustainable products, educating customers remains one of Green Hermitage’s biggest challenges.

Gayatri says one of the first questions customers ask at pop-ups concerns durability.

Consumers want to know whether plant-based materials will tear like PU leather or perform like conventional animal leather.

The company responds by showing customers older products, testing reports and certifications, alongside information about the artisans involved in manufacturing.

That education is important because sustainability alone may not be enough to persuade customers to switch products.

The product also needs to be attractive, functional and durable.

“The challenge is about spreading awareness and knowledge while also making the product genuinely desirable,” Gayatri says.

How Green Hermitage Found Its First Customers

The business initially grew without major paid marketing campaigns.

Early customers came through:

• Friends and family
• Incubator networks
• Exhibitions
• Pop-ups
• Corporate events
• Gifting
• Free samples

As awareness increased, Green Hermitage expanded its marketing efforts through performance marketing, collaborations and influencer partnerships.

Customer education around plant-based materials has remained part of the strategy.

The Startup Remains Bootstrapped

Green Hermitage has so far remained completely bootstrapped, according to the founders.

The company aims to become profitable by the end of the current financial year and is exploring external funding to support its next stage of growth.

The founders have also participated in TechnoServe’s Greenr accelerator programme, which has supported the business with areas including financial literacy, marketing, mentorship, business development and market access.

For a young sustainable consumer brand, access to capital can be important not only for marketing but also for inventory, manufacturing, product development and expansion into new markets.

What’s Next for Green Hermitage?

The company’s long-term objective extends beyond selling plant-based accessories.

Gayatri says the team wants to make Green Hermitage 100% sustainable across its processes while increasing the company’s reach and impact.

That ambition creates a demanding roadmap.

For the company, sustainability has to cover more than the material used in a handbag or wallet. It involves sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, product design, customer use and what happens to the product at the end of its life.

Green Hermitage’s journey illustrates a broader opportunity emerging in India’s sustainable consumer market: building brands where environmental considerations are incorporated into the product and supply chain rather than treated solely as a marketing proposition.

Whether the model can scale while maintaining those standards will be one of the company’s key challenges as it expands across India and international markets.