Gen Phoenix

Gen Phoenix (formerly ELeather, corporate name Generation Phoenix) is a UK-based materials manufacturer that converts leather offcuts, wet blue trimmings and other post-industrial and post-consumer waste into engineered recycled leather. Waste feedstock is rescued from tanneries and factory floors, milled and separated down to the fibre level, compressed into a uniform fibre web, and bonded with a textile core using high-pressure water (hydroentanglement) before finishing with natural oils and coatings selected for colour, texture and sustainability requirements. The company states its materials contain up to 77% recycled content, that 95% of process water is recycled via an on-site water treatment plant, and that it has sent zero waste to landfill since 2016.

The company's original ELeather brand remains in use for mass-transportation seating, where it has been supplied for roughly 15 years, while the Gen Phoenix name — adopted at a 2023 rebrand — covers a broader range of applications including footwear, automotive interiors, fashion and leather goods. Products are offered in stock and bespoke colourways and are compatible with secondary processes such as embossing, printing, laser etching, stitching and perforation. Gen Phoenix describes itself as a sustainable fibre science company and is developing bio-based coatings, bio-based substitutes for synthetic inputs, and processes able to take in end-of-life materials, including its own.

Leadership includes chief executive John Kennedy, CFO Mark Harvey, chief revenue officer Lisa Conway, chief marketing officer Elyse Winer, chief people officer Elizabeth Cowper, head of manufacturing Aaron Gutteridge, operations director Richard Holland and senior director of R&T Richard Peace. The board comprises John Kennedy, Paul Deninger and Adam Sharkawy.