ForMatter/Materials/biomaterial/Piñatex (Pineapple Leaf Fiber)
mat_pinatex

Piñatex (Pineapple Leaf Fiber)

non-woven pineapple-leaf-fiber leather alternative · Pinatex, pineapple leather, Ananas Anam
mediumlast updated 2026-04-27
metallic 0.00
hue shift +0°

A leather alternative made from pineapple-leaf fiber — a waste stream from pineapple farming that would otherwise be burned. Ananas Anam (London) developed and commercialized the process from 2013 onward. The non-woven base sheet is bonded with PLA bioplastic and finished with a polyurethane coating; the result feels and works like a thin leather and is widely adopted in fashion.

Non-woven mat of pineapple-leaf cellulosic fibers (~80% by mass) bonded with PLA (~20%) and finished with PU surface coating. Density 0.5–0.7 g/cm³ depending on grade. Tensile strength 9–13 MPa. Surface engineered for color, texture, and finish to match commercial leather aesthetics. Currently 95%+ biobased, with ongoing efforts on the PU finish layer.

mechanical

  • tensile_strength_mpa11
source: Ananas Anam technical bulletin

Sustainability

  • embodied carbon kg co2e per kg0.9
  • sourceEditorial estimate from ICE / Granta CES EduPack class databases — industry mean, with cradle-to-gate boundary unless otherwise noted. Embodied carbon for any specific product depends on supplier mix, recycled content, and energy grid; verify against a primary source before using these numbers in a sustainability claim.
  • recyclabilitymoderate — partial biodegradability limited by PU finish
  • biodegradableFalse
  • certificationsPETA-Approved Vegan, ISO 14040 LCA documented by manufacturer
visual
characteristic textured non-woven surface, dyed across full color range
tactile
thin and supple, lighter than equivalent-thickness leather

PBR starter values

Principled BSDF defaults derived from the sphere fibrous finish. Reasonable seed for Blender, Substance, Keyshot, Rhino — tune per material.

# finish:      fibrous
albedo        #a08868
metallic      0.00
roughness     0.70
ior           1.45
transmission  0.00
clearcoat     0.00
sheen         0.70
anisotropic   0.50
copy as JSON 
{
  "albedo": "#a08868",
  "metallic": 0.0,
  "roughness": 0.7,
  "ior": 1.45,
  "transmission": 0.0,
  "clearcoat": 0.0,
  "sheen": 0.7,
  "anisotropic": 0.5
}
Blender 4.x Python 
# Blender 4.x — Principled BSDF
# Piñatex (Pineapple Leaf Fiber) · finish: fibrous
import bpy
mat = bpy.data.materials.new(name="mat_pinatex")
mat.use_nodes = True
bsdf = mat.node_tree.nodes["Principled BSDF"]
bsdf.inputs["Base Color"].default_value         = (0.3515, 0.2462, 0.1384, 1.0)
bsdf.inputs["Metallic"].default_value           = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Roughness"].default_value          = 0.700
bsdf.inputs["IOR"].default_value                = 1.450
bsdf.inputs["Transmission Weight"].default_value = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Coat Weight"].default_value        = 0.000
bsdf.inputs["Sheen Weight"].default_value       = 0.700
bsdf.inputs["Anisotropic"].default_value        = 0.500
KeyShot Python (lux) 
# KeyShot 11+ — lux Python API, Generic material
# Piñatex (Pineapple Leaf Fiber) · finish: fibrous
# Run from Window → Scripting Console
import lux
mat = lux.createMaterial(name="mat_pinatex", materialType="Generic")
mat.setProperty("diffuse",      (160, 136, 104))   # 8-bit sRGB
mat.setProperty("metallic",     0.000)
mat.setProperty("roughness",    0.700)
mat.setProperty("indexOfRefraction", 1.450)
mat.setProperty("transparency", 0.000)
mat.setProperty("coatingWeight", 0.000)
Substance pbrMetalRough 
{
  "_format": "Substance Designer / Painter \u2014 pbrMetalRough constants",
  "_about": "Pi\u00f1atex (Pineapple Leaf Fiber) \u00b7 finish: fibrous",
  "baseColor": {
    "r": 0.3515,
    "g": 0.2462,
    "b": 0.1384
  },
  "metallic": 0.0,
  "roughness": 0.7,
  "ior": 1.45,
  "opacity": 1.0,
  "anisotropyLevel": 0.5,
  "_notes": "Channels listed are the standard Substance pbrMetalRough output. Drop into a Uniform Color node per channel, or as the constant input on a layered stack."
}
glTF 2.0 Metallic-Roughness 
{
  "asset": {
    "version": "2.0",
    "generator": "ForMatter"
  },
  "materials": [
    {
      "name": "mat_pinatex",
      "pbrMetallicRoughness": {
        "baseColorFactor": [
          0.3515,
          0.2462,
          0.1384,
          1.0
        ],
        "metallicFactor": 0.0,
        "roughnessFactor": 0.7
      },
      "extensions": {
        "KHR_materials_ior": {
          "ior": 1.45
        },
        "KHR_materials_sheen": {
          "sheenColorFactor": [
            1.0,
            1.0,
            1.0
          ],
          "sheenRoughnessFactor": 0.7
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
USD Preview Surface 
# USD Preview Surface — UsdShade.MaterialLook prim attributes
# Piñatex (Pineapple Leaf Fiber) · finish: fibrous
def Material "mat_pinatex" {
    token outputs:surface.connect = </mat_pinatex/PreviewSurface.outputs:surface>

    def Shader "PreviewSurface" {
        uniform token info:id = "UsdPreviewSurface"
        color3f inputs:diffuseColor = (0.3515, 0.2462, 0.1384)
        float   inputs:metallic     = 0.000
        float   inputs:roughness    = 0.700
        float   inputs:ior          = 1.450
        float   inputs:opacity      = 1.000
        float   inputs:clearcoat    = 0.000
        token   outputs:surface
    }
}
↓ download glTF material
Substitutes
Mushroom Leather (Mylo / Reishi)
Bacterial Cellulose

Citations