Sixty-six million years after the last Tyrannosaurus rex walked the earth, the prehistoric predator is making an unlikely return – as a luxury handbag. A handbag made using collagen derived from Tyrannosaurus rex fossils has been unveiled by scientists and designers in a project aimed at demonstrating the potential of laboratory-grown leather.
The teal-coloured bag is currently on display at the Art Zoo Museum in Amsterdam, where it is being exhibited on a rock inside a cage beneath a replica of a T. rex until May 11. It will subsequently be auctioned, with a reported starting price of more than $500,000 – approximately Rs 5 crore.
The bag, adorned with sterling silver and black diamonds and designed by fashion house Enfin Levé, will remain on display until May 11, at which point it heads to auction. A single 10-by-15-centimetre swatch of the material is estimated to be worth between €10,000 and €20,000.
How science brought a dinosaur back to life – in leather form
The biomaterial was developed by creative agency VML in collaboration with the Organoid Company and Lab-Grown Leather Ltd. Scientists started by extracting fossilised collagen sequences from Tyrannosaurus rex fossils found in the US, then reconstructed the remaining genetic information to form a complete collagen blueprint.
This fully synthesised DNA was inserted into an unidentified “carrier” animal’s cell to produce collagen that was turned into leather.
The team says the resulting material is “structurally identical to traditional leather,” but is traceable, biodegradable, cruelty-free, and eco-friendly.
Che Connon, CEO of Lab-Grown Leather Ltd., was effusive about the material’s promise. “It’s not just about a green alternative to leather, it’s a technological upgrade,” Connon said.
Art Zoo Museum curator Iacopo Briand was equally bullish about the bag’s auction value. “There is not really a limit for something so unique,” Briand said. “This very first piece is like the first Apple Computer, or the first Birkin bag, which just sold for 10 million euros.” Bas Korsten, Chief Creative Officer at VML, put it more bluntly: “What we’re saying is that it will sell for at least as much as ten Birkin bags.”
Scientists push back on the ‘T-rex leather’ claim
Not everyone is convinced. Melanie During of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam stated that collagen can persist in dinosaur bones only in fragmented traces, making it unsuitable for recreating T. rex skin or leather.
Similarly, Thomas R. Holtz Jr. of the University of Maryland stated that any collagen identified in fossils originates from within bones rather than skin and lacks the structural properties required to replicate natural leather.
Thomas Mitchell, CEO of The Organoid Company, acknowledged the scrutiny head-on. “When you do something truly new for the first time, criticism is inevitable – and we’re genuinely grateful for it,” he said, describing the project as the closest attempt yet to create a material inspired by an extinct species.
While this first piece is unique, T-Rex leather itself will continue to be produced and made commercially available to brands and designers. Initial applications will focus on luxury accessories, with long-term ambitions extending into fashion, automotive, and other high-performance material sectors.