7 January 2021

Leather alternative mushrooming into the fashion world

Mylo, a leather-like material made from renewable mycelium – the vegetative part of fungus – is tipped to enter the fashion market this year

Mylo swatches
Mylo is a leather-like material made from vegetative mycelium © Bolt Threads

Brands including adidas, Kering, lululemon and Stella McCartney have partnered up with US materials solutions company, Bolt Threads, to secure exclusive access to the product.

Bolt Threads explains that Mylo is fabricated by recreating the production of mycelium indoors. Jamie Bainbridge, VP of Product Development, says “We take spores of mycelia cells and feed them sawdust and organic material, then place all of that on a square mat while controlling the humidity and temperature. The mycelium grows into a foamy layer – imagine a big bag of smashed marshmallows. Once the mycelium is harvested, we compost the leftover by-products. We then process and dye that sheet of mycelium, and it becomes the Mylo that will be used by our consortium partners.”

The material is said to take less than two weeks to grow. Bainbridge adds, “The Mylo production process has been designed from day one to be capable of scaling to millions of square feet of production at a cost and quality that is competitive with today’s materials.

“To do so, we have built a world-class supply chain with a commitment to quality and sustainability. For example, we are working with partners like our tannery which has more than 100 years’ experience working with leather and also is Leather Working Group Gold Standard Certified.”

The company says that it will undertake an independent life cycle assessment this year to fully quantify the environmental benefits, including water and energy use.

Related topics