Tech company Mycelium Ecovative has started a sustainable fashion cooperative with Bestseller and PVH Corp as founding members. Through the cooperative, these brands will have priority access to Ecovative’s mycelium innovations through its Forager Hides platform and will work directly with the Ecovative team to jointly develop custom mycelium materials.
The global innovation platform Fashion for Good has been instrumental in bringing these parties together to promote vegan oil-free leather, Ecovative said in a press release. Bestseller and PVH Corp share Ecovative’s commitment to sustainable fashion.
Their designers will work in tandem with the engineering team and Ecovative mycologists to create mycelium solutions for their products. Members of the Fashion for Good cooperative will bring their experience in the fashion industry to work with Ecovative in a strategy of research and development of design, build and test.
Together, the cooperative will develop mycelium materials for the consumer market. “Mycelium offers us the opportunity to respond to the growing consumer interest in low impact products, while supporting the quality and design that meet the needs and expectations of our consumers in this case, made with 100% of resources a We look forward to testing and learning with our partners to create scalable and sustainable solutions “, helps Rebecca England, VP Innovation, PVH Europe.
This pilot project allows us to better understand mycelium as an alternative to skin, which is ultimately both biodegradable and fully bio-based, “said Anders Schorling Overgard, Sustainable Materials Engineer at Bestseller. Ecovative has over a decade of experience manufacturing mycelium materials for partners across the world.
North America, Europe and Asia The company launched Forager Hides, its alternative leather material, in March 2021. Forage skins are based on Ecovative’s second generation mycelium material, the result of more than five years of research and development in the Ecovative mycelium foundry.
The 100% bio-based mycelium material is grown in leaves up to 24 meters long and 1.8 meters wide and can be grown according to the specific needs of the partners in terms of tensile strength, density and orientation of the trees. fibers. The whole growing process takes just 9 days and produces a ready-to-finish material without plastic grids or petroleum-based coatings.
By working directly with fashion brands and tanneries, we make materials that are beautiful, performant and sustainable without harming animals and the planet, said Gavin McIntyre, Ecovative co-founder and chief commercial officer.
From soft, supple leather accessories and clothing to thick, durable belts and shoes, Ecovative scientists are able to refine their product to meet a wide range of end product needs. “Ecovative has focused on expanding its technologies to deliver mycelium at the scale required by industry leaders such as Bestseller and PVH Corp. This is an exciting development in the desire to evolve these solutions and increase accessibility, ”said Katrin Ley, CEO of Fashion for Good.
