Can you profit off nature without destroying it? These venture capitalists are betting on it.

Photo: Lionfish – August 7, 2015. A new company called Inversa makes leather out of invasive species such as lionfish. Photo credit: Geoff Wake via Flickr. CC BY 2.0. Article by Benji Jones. Vox – April 21, 2026.

If you’ve ever wanted to buy sandals made with leather from invasive lionfish, I’ve got some good news — you can! A clothing and gear company called Grundéns is now selling flip-flops with a “panel” of scaly lionfish leather. The leather itself is made by a Miami-based startup called Inversa that produces the material from a number of invasive species, including Burmese pythons, lionfish, and iguanas in Florida, where these non-native and very prolific animals are known to damage the state’s native ecosystems. […]

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Curated by Theresa Wysocki

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