Balena, which develops a soft recycled plastic that can be used for shoes and other fashion items, announces its release of our first material-made limited-edition handbag in collaboration with Lemon Jelly. The company has collaborated with companies such as Vivo Barefoot in the recent past.
The company first revealed a compostable shoe in 2022 and then went on to create or develop a B2B model where it offers the soft and flexible bioplastic to a range of companies in the fashion industry. It’s an antidote to fast fashion.
Balena and Lemon Jelly have created the NYSSA bag—crafted from BioCirflex, Balena’s proprietary biobased material—which is fully compostable or recyclable, creating a breakthrough in sustainable design and circular fashion. Let it go to waste in the compost bin or bring back into the cycle of plastics. They have circularity in the bag!
“Designed to be both durable and biodegradable,” says Balena, the company, “the NYSSA bag embodies circularity. It’s available exclusively online in deep black and amber yellow, with a sleek matte finish, launching worldwide at the end of November. This collaboration celebrates the strengths of both Balena’s material science innovation and Lemon Jelly’s commitment to responsible fashion.”
International materials science specialist Balena has also partnered with UK’s 3D-print label Variable Seams to showcase the “durability and wearability of Flextex3D, which enables the 3D printing of fabrics and garments.”
Earlier this year they partnered with Zulu Kuki, known for his boundary-pushing creativity and deep appreciation for cultural influences, and who has taken footwear design to a new level with this collaboration.
His design philosophy, inspired by automotive culture—specifically the sleek, functional lines of 70s racing cars like the Porsche 935—translates into a shoe that is both visually striking and functionally advanced. This shoe is more than a fashion statement; it’s a reflection of a future where innovation meets sustainability.
The Lemon Jelly bag costs 90 Euros and you can pre-order it in black or beige here.
Below are some images of shoes created with Kitty Shukman and Balena.
