Dive Brief:
- California-based biomaterials technology company Mycoworks released three new finishes for Reishi, a proprietary product made from mushroom-derived mycelium-grown materials that behave similarly to some animal leathers, the company announced Thursday.
- The new finishes, called Reishi Doux, Reishi Natural, and Reishi Pebble, are tanned and finished by the company’s tannery partners in Europe using proprietary chrome-free tanning and dying technologies, according to the company’s website.
- The company also announced it would begin producing these materials at a commercial-scale factory for fine mycelium in Union, South Carolina.
Dive Insight:
Mycoworks’ material, Fine Mycelium, launched in 2016 and the company says the product resembles leather in durability and softness.
The company just marked its tenth year as a business and has brand partnerships with Hermès, General Motors, Ligne Roset, Heron Preston and Nick Fouquet, a designer who launched a line of hats called Made with Reishi last year.
In March 2021, Mycoworks collaborated with Hermès on a bag. That was the first commercially available first product to feature the Fine Mycelium material, and Patrick Thomas, former CEO of Hermès, is a Mycoworks board member.
The company says its materials “[exceed] performance levels required by the luxury industry,” and seems to be positioning itself for the luxury category, often noting that it meets the industry’s standards for leather, while avoiding the use of plastics, including polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride films, fillers or backings.
“While most plant- or mycelium-based alternative materials use plastic to meet baseline performance standards, MycoWorks has spent ten years taking no shortcuts, in order to achieve the biotech innovations behind our proprietary process,” Matt Scullin, Mycoworks CEO, said in the release. “Operating vertically—owning our entire technology stack, rather than licensing and outsourcing—has given us the depth of expertise required to bring a new material to market.”
Mycoworks closed a $125 million funding round in January 2022. At the time, the company said the money would be used to fund the South Carolina production plant.
Mycelium leather competitor Ecovative Design LLC closed a $30 million funding round last month. That company makes mycelium-derived hide textiles and flexible foam and has brand partners with Ecco Leather and members of the Fashion for Good Cooperative.
Meanwhile, some other alternative material makers tell a different story. Bolt Threads paused operations of its Mylo material, made from mushrooms, after struggling to find funding, according to a report earlier this month from Business of Fashion.
