In California, Bolt Threads is going beyond spider silk and introduced a new animal-free leather, called Mylo, made from mycelium, the roots of a mushroom. Bolt Threads is licensing the mushroom technology from New York-based Ecovative. The new Mylo material will be used on a Stella McCartney bag to be shown in a London fashion exhibit later in April and the bags will be available for preorder starting in June.
“We were looking for the right point to show the world that we are more than just spider silk,” Dan Widmaier, Bolt Threads’ cofounder and CEO, told Forbes.
The Mylo material looks like traditional animal leather but is produced much more quickly with less waste and at a similar price point. Originally, Ecovative developed the mushroom root technology for packaging to replace Styrofoam and alleviate packaging waste issues.