Now more than ever the fashion industry needs to be more sustainable, and implement eco practices as climate change is hitting an all-time peak. Of course, this mission is not simple, especially for certain brands that are attached to tradition and still uses materials like leather or synthetic derivates for their pieces. But it looks like that we reached a turning point thanks to the research of Bolt Threads which created Mylo, a certified bio-based material, made from predominantly renewable ingredients that can be found in nature. “Soft, supple, and less harmful to the planet, Mylo is a sustainable alternative to leather that will become available to the world through our consortium partners,” said the company. It can be used like animal or synthetic leather and can take on any colour, emboss, or texture. At the same time, it has a low environmental impact, thanks to its production technique which use a small amount of water and energy resources. Brands like adidas, Stella McCartney and recently, the Kering group, joined the Mylo Consortium, a group of world-class companies investing in meaningful material innovation.
“For too long the industry standard has categorized materials as either natural or highly functional, but not both. The way to remedy this is to innovate responsibly with solutions that challenge the status quo, and products that use the best of what nature has spent millions of years perfecting, like Mylo, are critical to that,” said James Carnes, Vice President of Global Brand Strategy at Adidas. “We hope this inspires others to join forces, as a more sustainable future is something that no brand can create alone.”While Stella McCartney, that already worked with Bolt Threads to replace animal-derived silk in her collections thanks to their startup’s yeast-based silk said: “Many people associate leather with luxury, but since the beginning I always wanted to approach things in a different way because killing animals for the sake of fashion is quite simply not acceptable. Working so closely with Bolt Threads since 2017 has been a career-changing experience and I cannot wait to launch Mylo products to market in 2021.”
Mylo seems the first step in the right direction. We can’t wait to try this amazing new technology first hand.
