Bolt Threads Unites Adidas, Kering, Lululemon & Stella McCartney For Mushroom Leather Products

Bolt Threads, a biotech company developing sustainable materials, has announced a new partnership with some of the biggest fashion players to create a consortium with access to Mylo, its latest vegan mushroom leather material. The collaboration will see Adidas, Kering Group, Lululemon and Stella McCartney bring products made with Mylo to market next year, marking a major step forward to make fashion more ethical and planet-friendly. 

California-based Bolt Threads has just teamed up with iconic fashion brands including sportswear giant Adidas, Kering, the parent group of luxury labels such as Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga, Millennial-favourite athleisure label Lululemon and animal-free high-end brand Stella McCartney. The consortium will see partnering fashion houses launch new products featuring Mylo, Bolt Thread’s renewable mycelium-based vegan leather, in 2021. 

According to Bolt Threads, the collaboration is based on a “selective” process that considered mission alignment and a “demonstrated commitment to sustainability”. It marks the largest joint development agreement in consumer biomaterials to date. 

“The consortium unites four iconic and forward-thinking companies…who collectively represent hundreds of millions of square feet of potential demand for Mylo. Most importantly, this is an ongoing commitment to develop materials and products for a more sustainable future,” said Dan Widmaier, the CEO of Bolt Threads.

The consortium unites four iconic and forward-thinking companies…who collectively represent hundreds of millions of square feet of potential demand for Mylo. Most importantly, this is an ongoing commitment to develop materials and products for a more sustainable future.

Dan Widmaier, the CEO of Bolt Threads

Mycelium is an infinitely renewable resource that comes from the branching underground structure of mushrooms. Taking less than two weeks to grow, the mycelium-based Mylo material is far more environmentally-friendly compared to real animal leather, emitting fewer greenhouse gases and requiring less water to produce, not to mention an ethical and cruelty-free choice. 

Resembling soft and supple leather, Mylo can be used to replace any animal or other petroleum plastic-based synthetic leathers, and can take on any finishing, embossing or colours – making it a particularly suitable alternative that ticks all the right boxes for fashion brands. 

For too long the industry standard has categorized materials as either natural or highly functional – but not both. The way to remedy this is to innovate responsibly with solutions that challenge the status quo, and products that use the best of what nature has spent millions of years perfecting – like Mylo – are critical to that.

James Carnes, VP of Global Brand Strategy at Adidas

“Finding innovative, alternative materials and fabrics can potentially drastically reduce the environmental impact of our industry over the long-term,” said François-Henri Pinault, Kering’s chairman and CEO. “This is why Kering is actively looking for innovations in this field and it’s why we became an early supporter of Bolt Threads. Mylo is one of the very promising solutions that we have identified.” 

“For too long the industry standard has categorized materials as either natural or highly functional – but not both,” added James Carnes, vice president of global brand strategy at Adidas. “The way to remedy this is to innovate responsibly with solutions that challenge the status quo, and products that use the best of what nature has spent millions of years perfecting – like Mylo – are critical to that.”

As consumer attention turns to the waste and carbon footprint of fashion, brands have come under increasing pressure to innovate their designs with animal-free and sustainable materials that have recently been developed, from grape leather made from the byproducts of wine waste to upcycled floral leather. 

All images courtesy of Bolt Threads.