All Over Albany

Ecovative's mushroom root tech is now being used to make (not) leather

This is wild: Ecovative has partnered with a company in California to use its mushroom root tech to make a material that looks remarkably like leather.

That company -- Bolt Threads -- now has a Kickstarter for the first consumer product (tote bags) made with the not-leather, which it's calling Mylo. (That's one of the bags above in the photo.) The Kickstarter went live this week and is almost halfway to its $40,000 goal.

From a Bolt Threads FAQ:

We use corn stalks and supplemental nutrients to feed and grow our mycelium. We precisely control growth conditions like temperature and humidity to encourage the mycelium to grow upward and self-assemble into an organized mat of interconnected cells. Their connections give the material strength. We then use a natural tanning process and compress the mat to be as thin or thick as we'd like the final material to be. At this point the mycelium is no longer growing. The final step is to imprint any desired pattern, which gives us the final material. ...

Our friends at Ecovative pioneered this mycelium fabrication technology, which literally grew out of the great work they've been doing in creating soft flexible foams. We were blown away, and thrilled when they agreed to allow us to help develop it into a commercially viable new material. We've established a long-term partnership with Ecovative to optimize this technology and put processes in place to produce commercial-ready Mylo™ material and bring products to market that consumers will love.

As you know, Ecovative was started by two RPI grads about a decade ago and it's now based in Green Island. It uses what are essentially mushroom roots to bind leftover agricultural materials into various environmentally-friendly packing materials and fiber boards. The tech has gotten the company international attention, and it's been used in all sorts of projects.

photo via Bolt Threads Kickstarter