Ecovative Collaborative Pilot
The aim of the pilot was to develop and test the next generation of mycelium-based alternatives to leather and foam materials. This project, spanning from December 2021 to March 2024, involved collaboration with major fashion brands to create sustainable materials suitable for consumer goods.
What's the challenge?
Leather production can have varying environmental impacts depending on the practices and standards employed. While some traditional leather is produced using responsible and sustainable methods, there are also growing concerns around its environmental footprint. While there are multiple “vegan” leather alternatives available on the market, many of them contain synthetic materials, have worse performance metrics than conventional leather, or are not available at scale. These partly plastic materials cannot be recycled and fewer still are compostable. Alongside this, synthetic foams, often made from polyurethane, are made from petroleum, a non-renewable virgin resource.
There are lots of opportunities for innovation in both leather and foam alternatives: Ecovative’s petrochemical-free mycelium hides and foam alternative promises to be a more sustainable alternative, grown in a fraction of time compared to animal leather, and with minimal resources.
Executive Summary
The Ecovative Collaborative Pilot was launched in December 2021 in collaboration with Bestseller, Pangaia, PVH Corp., Reformation and Vivobarefoot alongside manufacturing partner Ecco. The pilot aimed to test, refine, and scale Ecovative’s Forager AirLoom™ hides and MycoFlex™ foam. The primary goal was to develop sustainable, scalable alternatives to traditional leather and synthetic foam, minimising environmental impacts. Through collaboration with PVH Corp., Bestseller, Vivobarefoot, Pangaia, and Reformation, the project successfully scaled the production of these materials and demonstrated commercial viability.
Goals of the Project
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Develop and test mycelium-based alternatives to leather (Forager AirLoom™ hides) and foam (MycoFlex™ foam).
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Refine these materials for scale-up and commercial production.
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Collaborate with brand partners to produce concept products.
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Ensure commercial-scale production of these materials for future consumer goods.
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Project Results
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Validation of mycelium farming and tanning at scale: Ecovative developed a scaled supply chain within the EU (Netherlands) including a commercial farm partner and leading tannery (ECCO Leather) that enabled larger production volumes of raw mycelium and finished products.
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Growing conditions impact material characteristics: Through the Mycelium Foundry One, Ecovative demonstrated that the performance of the final material can be successfully altered by changing the growing conditions to produce a range of products.
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Promising results demonstrate multiple application areas: Material performance testing showed significant improvement for Forager AirLoom™ hides and MycoFlex™ Foam by increasing product uniformity and nearly tripling the strength of the raw mycelium.
Next Steps
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Co-development is key: Ecovative continues to collaborate with several brand partners individually focusing on product development.
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Further validation of product at scale: Ecovative and its regional supply chain partner continue to focus on scale and product quality.
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Products on the market in 2025: Along with brand partners in and out of the pilot, Ecovative is focused on bringing Forager AirLoom™ hides and MycoFlex™ foams to consumer products on the market in 2025.
Innovation Partners
Project Partners
Relevant Resources
Ecovative
Ecovative utilises mycelium and agricultural waste streams to develop products with applications in food, fashion, beauty and other industries. The Ecovative Mycelium Foundry is built on an extensive library of fungal strains to test and perfect new mycological materials. Strains selected from this process go through their proprietary AirMycelium™ process to grow unique bio-materials fine-tuned for specific applications e.g. as leather alternatives.
Ecovative Launches Fashion for Good Cooperative with BESTSELLER and PVH Corp.
In Conversation with Ecovative: The Innovator Unlocking the Power of Mycelium
Meet the Innovator: Ecovative
PVH, Bestseller Get ‘Priority Access’ to Ecovative’s Mycelium ‘Forager Hides’
PVH and Bestseller are first in line to trial Ecovative’s mycelium “Forager” hides in a new cooperative revealed today. Alongside the brands, Amsterdam-based nonprofit Fashion for Good (which Ecovative has been working with for the past three years) is also a strategic partner as Ecovative refines production.
Pangaia, Vivobarefoot, Ecovative to Research Mycelium in Fashion
The collective mycelium research pairs Vivobarefoot and Pangaia with Ecovative’s team of mycologists, engineers and designers, to develop a line of fungus-based, petroleum-free foams and hides for their products. It also sees the three join the Fashion for Good Cooperative.
The Race for Fashion’s Leather Alternatives Heats Up
Ecovative wants to become the first to offer a plant-based leather alternative that’s ready to scale, and could up the ante in fashion’s race for leather replacements that are both more sustainable and higher quality, with a more attractive look and feel, than plastic-based vegan materials.
“Oftentimes with these different materials, you get a proof of concept that comes out and it takes time for these materials to then scale,” says Georgia Parker, innovation manager at Fashion for Good.
Other Projects
Cotton Reloop Matrix
The Cotton Reloop Matrix Project maps and validates what mechanically recycled cotton fibre and yarn can currently deliver against real-world brand specifications, while collaborating with the supply chain to establish a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling and processing recycled fibres, building the shared, objective view needed to close that gap.
DW(O)R-X
Durable water- and oil-repellent repellency (DW(O)R) finishes are chemical treatments applied to textiles and footwear to keep materials dry, clean, breathable, and durable. Historically, these finishes have relied on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). However, PFAS are highly persistent, accumulate in the environment and in human bodies, and are associated with harmful health and ecological effects. Increasing regulatory restrictions, combined with brand sustainability commitments and rising consumer awareness, are accelerating the shift toward PFAS-free alternatives.
Sorting for Circularity Rewear
Fashion for Good expanded its Sorting for Circularity framework to address the challenge of sorting for rewearable textiles to understand better their resale potential and the demand across the second-hand market. We launched an 18-month initiative in January 2024 in collaboration with Circle Economy, brand partners adidas, Inditex, Levi Strauss & Co. and Zalando to enhance the sorting of rewearable textiles using innovative AI technologies. The project seeks to improve garment recovery for resale, promoting circularity in the fashion industry.
