Fashion is the second most polluting industry behind oil and is responsible for 10 percent of annual global carbon emissions. The carbon-intensive production of animal hide and plastic for leather and synthetic clothing further compound the impact of this industry, while waste from every stage of the fashion pipeline contributes to rampant air, water, and soil pollution. As experts have known for years, the rise of fast fashion has overextended the world’s resources and demonstrated the fragility of our current methods of production and consumption. If we desire a future in which high quality textiles play a part, we must act to change our habits on a system-wide scale.

When her artistic collaborator, Phil Ross, shared with her the mycelium sculptures he had been finessing for decades, artist Sophia Wang was amazed by the expanse of possibilities in its natural pigments and textures. Mycelium comprises the root structure of mushrooms and like the edible portion of the fungi, possesses textural qualities unlike any of those found in the animal or plant kingdoms. Sophia had never seen anything quite like it and describes the mycelium materials Phil created as “at once rigid and foamy; compact and endlessly expressive.”

The cultivation of mushrooms for consumption is an age-old industry boasting strong production and distribution infrastructure all over the world. Mycelium’s abundance and its biodegradable and carbon sequestration properties make it an obvious choice for the sustainable goods of the future. Companies like Ecovative Design and Rhizoform LLC have spent decades developing mycelium as a packaging alternative for fragile consumer goods and fish and have even secured support from Ikea and packaging giant SealedAir, but in fashion nothing has yet been attempted at quite this scale.

Sophia and Phil’s joint project, MycoWorks, is based on their proprietary process for mycelium cultivation called “Fine Mycelium™.” This process uses fungi’s capacity to bind both to itself and carbon-based materials to produce durable three-dimensional structures. The first product they have developed with Fine Mycelium is Reishi™, a sustainable option for leather that looks, feels, and acts like the animal-derived version. Following their successful brand launch for Reishi in February 2020 at New York Fashion week, MycoWorks plans to announce collaborations with some of the biggest names in fashion.

We sat down with Sophia Wang to discuss what makes MycoWorks a game-changer for sustainable fashion and what lies ahead.

China Environment Forum: What is unique about fashion as a means to showcase the fine mycelium material?

Sophia Wang: Fashion is uniquely positioned to lead the way in adoption of new materials because of its global presence, impact, and ubiquity. There’s a power that is possible with creating objects of high value that are beautiful, aesthetically appealing, and long-lasting. A high quality handbag or a beautiful piece of clothing becomes something that is intimate, that you live with, and that is important to you. When we started the company, it was an option to create things like structural panels, foam blocks, or protective packaging. But as far as introducing this new material and its amazing performative and expressive aesthetic qualities to the world, packaging applications didn’t showcase all of that. We think fashion is a really powerful partner to introduce the material in a way that adds value while also communicating its own value.

CEF: What makes Reishi unique?

SW: Reishi is a highly engineerable and customizable material, so we can grow to specification, whether that’s size or feature, and eliminate a lot of waste in the production process. Typically, work with animal hides is limited to what the farm can produce and the parameters of the animal from which you harvest. [With Reishi], we can grow direct-to-design products to eliminate waste from cutting and trimming. We can also work with customers to meet specific performance specifications, adjust how it looks and feels, and grow to those specifications.

CEF: How does Reishi advance the closed loop model within the fashion industry?

SW: We have a new model for advanced materials production. Mycelium grows on plant-based biomass and wood-based substrate so there is potential to centralize the production process by co-locating fine mycelium production with wood or biomass production. This highly portable technology is our most powerful intervention in the current supply chain model.

You could even co-locate with end-product fabrication. The byproduct of producing Reishi is actually the production of more mycelium-based products. Reishi material is grown on a composite substrate, which is itself grown on another mycelium component, which you could then use in structural panels, blocks, and foam packaging. There is a lot of potential for closed-loop within our manufacturing process, which is very exciting to us.

CEF: How did MycoWorks cultivate a collaborative relationship with the leather industry?

SW: Rather than claiming that we’re trying to displace leather, or provide an alternative to leather, we’re creating an option. Reishi, as a natural material and non-plastic, can be considered another fine, rare leather along with other exotic leathers like crocodile, alligator, and ostrich. The leather industry, by way of the partners we’re working with, is really excited to be working with us because we’re bringing an advanced materials technology and data-driven approach to an industry based on hundreds of years of craft and artisanal knowledge. We’ve learned a lot from our partners in the leather industry and they are learning a lot from the methods and processing approaches we’re bringing. They have never had the opportunity to work with a natural material that they can grow to specification, that has a three-dimensional structure analogous to collagen.

You may think of what we’re doing as an intersection between the fields of agricultural technology and the leather industry. Earlier stages of our process are very similar to that of the agricultural production of mushrooms because we start with similar substrates and inoculums. We then take some of the wisdom and models that come from leather tanning and finishing, and develop new chemistry and processes specific to entirely new materials that are natural but not animal-based collagen or plastics.

CEF: What does the future hold for MycoWorks?

SW: In the next few years, our focus will be entirely on scaling our production process to deliver Reishi to our short list of selected brand launch partners that are exclusively in the luxury fashion and footwear space. We are opening a pilot facility and eventually a full-scale facility to support these launches and deliver the high volumes our brand partners have committed to. We think launching with these brand partners is the first step to making Reishi and this technology ubiquitous because our partners are known for setting the highest standards for performance, quality, and design.

Long term, we hope to enable the co-location of manufacturing to make supply chains more efficient and to have an impact not only on the carbon footprint, but on the overall cost structure of production of these goods.

Reishi is immensely scalable. I would love this technology to be available to any corner of the world where there is agricultural production. There is potential around the world for small producers to create secondary products with existing mushroom production and distribution infrastructure. Mycelium grows everywhere around the planet and its inputs are so low—we just control the environment.

CEF: Is there someone that has inspired your work as a Closed Loop Innovator?

SW: As I’ve come into my own and understanding the story that I have to tell, I have to say I am really inspired by Céline Semaan, the founder of Slow Factory Foundation and an advocate for social and environmental justice. She educates about the fashion industry through an integrated approach that ties it to economic justice and understanding the impact of global colonialism, as well as issues around labor, the environment, and consumer production infrastructure. The messaging and communication interventions she’s putting into the world and the work she’s doing with Slow Factory is such an integrated story to tell.

I think the only way that we’re actually going to be able to change the system for all is if it’s a very integrated approach. We’re positioned [at MycoWorks] to make an incredible impact in terms of materials and the fashion industry and I’m really excited to develop a platform through MycoWorks that can affect policy and steer decisions that affect individuals’ lives.