Mycelium, simply the root system of fungi, is an interesting material
Photo: Timothy Dykes
According to an estimate by Matt Scullin, director of the MycoWorks startup, which produces mycelium clothing and accessories, leather products are sold for about $ 150 billion each year. Its aim is nothing less than to cut a large part of this market for itself with a material that looks like leather, behaves like leather, but has almost none of its disadvantages. In the next round of investments, MycoWorks has now raised $ 125 million (over three billion crowns) to build the first factory to produce “sponge skin.”
Today, the global leather market is facing more pressure than ever due to moral and environmental challenges, to which it does not have an easy answer. Although the vast majority work mainly with waste from the mass industry, votes are also increasing after the reduction of its production. In addition, the chemical treatment required for the longevity of the skin makes it a virtually non-degradable material. It can be produced completely ecologically in growing rooms with a precisely regulated microclimate, where mushrooms are mostly fed with wood waste. This creates large sheets of biomaterial, which after further processing can be similarly attractive and malleable, but more mechanically resistant than animal skins.
San Francisco startup MycoWorks has been working on its mycelial cultivation process since 2013. During that time, it first came up with experimental mushroom bricks stronger than fired clay, later with a flagship product called Reishi and in collaboration with the Hermés brand with its variation called Sylvania. The main thing for MycoWorks, however, is the technology behind all its materials, referred to as Fine Mycelium.
MycoWorks mycelium material is almost indistinguishable from leather
Reprofoto: MycoWorks / Vimeo
According to the startup description, it can precisely organize hub cells into variously complex three-dimensional structures. This is to allow the mycelium to create many versions of leather alternatives exactly according to the required properties such as hardness, thickness, shape, texture, flexibility, strength or density. As a result, startup materials have the potential to be used in all possible cases – from delicate pieces of clothing to durable shoes or wallets. They say that the semi-finished product grown is usually a kind of natural mycelial foam, which is then compressed. The result is still an environmentally friendly and reliable material, but it lacks the finer properties and variability that Fine Mycelium can offer. Other companies also combine their material with plastic fibers.
At CzechCrunch, we wrote more about the San Francisco startup more than a year ago
, where he earned $ 43 million in the second round of investments, including actress Natalie Portman and musician John Legend. MycoWorks has now raised an additional $ 125 million to help scale scaling of mycelial skin.
introduced a travel bag made of Sylvania material, calfskin and fabric. Many other manufacturers of luxury clothing and accessories are said to have established some form of cooperation. However, all this should represent both visibility and a means of building a reputation for high quality. The longer-term goal is the mass production of more available mycelial materials.
Travel bag from Hermés combines fabric, mycelium and leather
Photo: Hermés
A new factory is to be built in the American city of Union in the state of South Carolina. months. From the very beginning, it should be possible to produce hundreds of thousands of square meters of mycelial leather here a year. The obtained investments, totaling already $ 187 million (over 4.7 billion crowns), will also be used to expand the team and further develop the technology.
which will bring MycoWorks products to market. As its production capabilities expand and other alternative leather projects are launched on the market, it is thus possible that mushrooms will also dominate the fashion industry within a few years.
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