A Tyrannosaurus leather bag will be put up for auction for $660,000

Scientists have created a unique material based on reconstructed Tyrannosaurus rex collagen, which they used to make the world’s first handbag—they plan to sell it at auction with a starting price of $660,000.

The material in question is called T-Rex Leather; it is not actual dinosaur skin, but is created using reconstructed protein structures associated with the Tyrannosaurus.

The project was developed by VML, The Organoid Company, and Lab-Grown Leather. They used modern methods of computational biology and artificial intelligence to reconstruct collagen, after which the synthesized DNA was integrated into cells grown in a laboratory.

The resulting material has the properties of natural leather—it is durable, repairable, and biodegradable, while requiring no animal slaughter or use of toxic substances in production.

The design of the first bag was developed by the brand Enfin Levé. It is expected that in the future, T-Rex Leather will become available to other manufacturers as well and may be used not only in fashion but also, for example, in the automotive industry.