In Emeryville, California, Bolt Threads has ceased production of its leather alternative Mylo after running out of funds. The news, conveyed by Bolt Threads’ CEO Dan Widmaier to Vogue Business, comes despite the company attracting keen interest from major brands like Stella McCartney, Kering and Adidas.
According to Widmaier, funding for Mylo was “devastatingly close” to being sufficient to proceed to commercial scale, but inflation and dwindling funding opportunities forced Bolt Threads to call it quits—for now.
“We are not immune to the same macroeconomic pressures everyone else is facing, so we have paused Mylo to reassess what works and what will work in the future,” Widmaier said.
The company was founded in 2009 and raised over $300 million. “Scale-up is the most expensive and hardest part and there are no shortcuts,” says Widmaier. “Fundraising has been a challenge across the whole space for the last 18 months. Those who have been able to raise funding mostly deal with AI.”