Stella McCartney has lauched the world’s first ever mushroom leather products, collaborating with Bolt Threads to utilise their latest vegan innovation Mylo™️ .
On her fashion website, Stella says: “These rare, exclusive Mylo™️ pieces embody our shared commitment with Bolt Threads to innovate a kinder fashion industry – one that sees the birth of beautiful, luxurious materials as opposed to the deaths of our fellow creatures and planet.”
The material is made from mycelium, the vegetative part of the fungus found underground in mushrooms. According to Material District, mushroom leather was discovered in as early as 2013 by Danish product designer Jonas Edvard, who developed an organic mushroom textile called MYX using mushroom spores and plant fibres, that the remaining material after mushroom harvesting could be shaped and dried out.
Whilst mushroom leather is not being produced on a mass scale yet, as it can be grown in a lab using less water and resources, with the end material produced being non-toxic, waterproof, and fire-resistant and flexible enough for a variety of products, there is certainly a place in future consumer markets for mushroom leather… we’ll have to watch this space!
