This designer is using cactus leather to craft sustainable and stylish accessories

NEW YORK -- Santos by Mónica is a small business crafting sustainable and beautiful accessories using an unexpected material - cactus leather.

Helmed by designer Mónica Santos, the brand first launched in 2020, with Santos hand-making each bag at her home studio.

Before that point, Santos spent years working for large fashion corporations and had become increasingly frustrated while witnessing the harmful impacts of fast fashion on the world.

"I kind of got to see what went on behind the scenes and the negative impact that fashion has on garment workers and the environment," Santos said of the experience.

Ultimately, she channeled that frustration into a curiosity for new biomaterials, like cactus leather, and sustainable fashion manufacture. Thus, Santos by Mónica was born.

While Santos no longer handcrafts each bag herself, the Santos by Mónica production is still extremely small and is run out of the Brooklyn Navy Yard under the oversight of production manager and factory owner Roy Campos.

Santos recalls that when she initially wanted to expand her production, many factories turned her down out of fear of working with a material as new as cactus leather. Campos, on the other hand, was excited by the challenge.

"I like challenge. It doesn't scare me," Campos explained.

Moving forward, Santos hopes to continue uplifting fellow independent designers and building community through her store.

"I think being able to able to collaborate with all these different brands, all these different creatives, and also meeting people through the store, it's been amazing. That's been the most rewarding part of my job so far."

To learn more about Santos by Mónica, visit their website.