A Wild Wild World

Mushrooms and Fungi are taking over the world of fashion and these are the key things you need to know about mycelium and its future.

A Mushroom Obsession

Last year we saw designers tip from florals to mushrooms for spring…groundbreaking (literally). We saw couturiers like Rahul Mishra and Iris Van Herpen get inspired by the silhouettes and shades. Similarly, Stella McCartney and Hermés highlighted their inspiration by creating luxury pieces from mushroom leather. Industry enthusiasts are curious about the future of this innovation. Whilst, the industry is preparing to scale up, it's difficult to navigate how widely or quickly this material will be adopted.

So, what is Mycelium and how has it disrupted the fashion industry as we know it.

Mycelium is the latest fashion innovation in the making. It’s essentially made from fungal threads found under the earth’s surface and is a sustainable substitute for leather and plastic. What is vital to the hyperconnected consumer today is transparency; especially when it comes down to supply chain and value creation efforts such as sustainability. The material is known to be key in environmental regeneration.

While traditional vegan leather and mycelium are both biodegradable and sustainable. Vegan leather is a made-to-order polymer that consists of materials such as pineapple leaves, cork, fruit waste, recycled plastic, etc. Mycelium is purely mushroom-based. The key differences between the two are the manufacturing time, and the other being a lower carbon footprint. While recycled plastic and polymers do not use animal hide, they still undergo chemical processing leaving a profound environmental impact. Mycelium is known to grow in weeks and mimics animal leather in strength, durability, and feel seamlessly. However, it is speculated that products manufactured with mycelium will be more expensive than their animal-leather counterparts.

Mylo Unleather: Sustainable, Vegan, Fine Mycelium Leather

Stamp of approval

Last year, sustainable luxury designer Stella McCartney was the first to create an outfit in collaboration with Mylo (mycelium). Although it is not available to be purchased it surely takes us a step towards the future.

A Mylo X Stella McCartney Colab

Luxury powerhouse Hermés collaborated with MycoWorks product; Reishi, to create a mushroom leather bag. Mycelium can be adapted to almost anything and has an extremely realistic touch and feel. Researchers comprehend that while the world will move away from fur and exotic skins, cow leather will remain widely accepted. It will be interesting to see how the consumers accept and designers create with this alternative.

Hermés X Reishi

What’s next?

The world is calling out fast-fashion companies for their carbon footprint. Vegan leather has been seen in many collections by seasoned players such as Zara. Most recently adopted by pop icon Kim Kardashian for her shapewear line called Skims.

SKIMS for Faux Leather

Relatedly, an exciting Startup to follow is Mycoworks. A biomaterials company that just raised $125 million in their Series C funding, to scale up and open a mass production facility in South Carolina by 2023. There is a growing demand for fine mycelium in the luxury sector. Mylo, another biomaterials company has already partnered with luxury clients such as Kering, Stella McCartney, and Lulu Lemon to come up with some fascinating collaborations.

Mylo X Lululemon

"We have been helped immensely by shifts in perspective…there is a growing curiosity around the capabilities and potential of mycelium" Sophia Wang, co-founder of MycoWorks

Designers such as Valentino (Open for a Change) and Prada (Re-Nylon) have also initiated efforts to use innovative materials to create sustainable pieces.

I don’t claim to be the torchbearer of sustainability but an impending change is long overdue in the supply chain. If anything, the Covid 19 pandemic has accelerated innovation in yet another sector: the need for conscious creation.

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