Stella McCartney Unveils Clothes Made From Vegan Mushroom Leather
This could be the future of fashion. Stella McCartney’s latest garments are made of a material called Mylo, a vegan alternative to leather derived from mushrooms. A lifelong vegan, McCartney has always been known for her refusal to bow down to the norm and incorporate leather into her designs. Her brand has never used leather, feathers, fur or skins, meanwhile publicly committing itself to ‘never compromising on desirability or sustainability’. While it’s true that Stella is passionate about animals and their welfare, she has also criticised the use of leather due to the environmental damage that producing it inflicts.
People don’t want to talk about the fact that the fashion industry’s biggest impact is its use of leather. The animals killed, the toxins, the chemicals, the cutting down of rain forests, the food and water and the electricity. All of which it takes to make a leather bag.
Stella’s latest clothing experimentation comes in the form of bio-based ‘un-leather’ grown from mycelium, which comes from fungus. Technically, it’s not straight up ‘mushroom leather’, rather the material is developed from a part of mushrooms. Amazingly, it can grow on a sheet of sawdust in just two weeks.
Mylo is vegetable-tanned to make it similar to the sensorial experience of real leather. Stella McCartney comments that the material is ‘remarkably similar to animal products with fewer environmental impacts. It is also not petroleum-based, unlike most current synthetic options. Mycelium, the infinitely renewable underground root system of mushrooms, might just become the next big thing to claim fashion development.
These are the garments that Stella McCartney has produced. Having worked with the scientists behind Mylo, she’s produced a black bustier and utilitarian trousers. They’re the first ever garments to be created in the fashion industry using this material. They aren’t for sale, but provide a flavour of what consumers could see in the future.
Though, she isn’t the first to dabble into a new generation of mushroom leathers, as Hermès has developed an alternative mushroom-derived leather called Sylvania. The new sustainable fabric will make its debut on the Victoria travel bag in late 2021. Perhaps this is the future of fashion, as the industry is increasingly being held accountable for its impact on the environment. Let’s hope this material will replace leather and stand shoulder to shoulder with the real thing.
