SearchRaising animals for their skins to make leather involves toxic chemicals and CO2. The process has long been criticized by environmentalists and animal rights activists.
Now, a company call Mycoworks, has engineered a way to make a material just like leather.
It’s made from fungi, specifically mycelium, which are the tiny white threads that grow beneath mushrooms, under the ground that spread and multiply quickly. It can be cultivated in trays and grown in just a few weeks and produced without polluting. Its strength, feel and appearance are just like leather. It can be grown to exact sizes and shapes and so reduces waste and is sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Mycelium growing in a petri dish. Toby Kellner/Wikimedia
Its potential as a friendly alternative to real leather is huge. For now, it is being used for high-fashion products, but it is expected that development will follow for mass-market goods.
