The fashion industry is becoming more sustainable as they are seeking out the opportunity to improve their reputation that is known as being the third most polluting industry with the top two being the fuel industry and agriculture. More brands are working towards building a more sustainable industry utilizing natural materials, textiles, and fibers that are eco-friendly.
Designer of her namesake brand Stella McCartney is a lifelong vegan and is known for continuing her dedication to being a vegan by never using furs or animal hides in any of her collections. The renowned sustainable fashion house Stella McCartney is known for being one of the first fashion designers to commit to using and creating sustainable textiles with the goal of reducing the brand’s carbon footprint.
McCartney also has a love of animals and has advocated the environmental impact of the fashion industry including raising animals for fashion, processing a leather (chemicals toxins released into the water and earth), and raising animals for food. McCartney is one of the leading fashion houses for vegan material and fabric alternatives.
One of the most recent developments by Stella McCartney is an alternative to leather that is made of mushrooms called Mylo working with a San Francisco-based company Bolt Threads. McCartney is working in partnership with Bolt Threads to develop a plant-based (un-leather) grown from the vegetative part of a fungus, mycelium.
This was a passion project for McCartney working closely with Mylo’s scientists to create a textile to refine the material’s texture, drape, and weight made of the underground root structures of mushrooms. McCartney first used the sustainable material for a prototype of the Falabella bag in 2018 that was a part of the “Fashion From Nature” exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
This alternative leather is also gaining attention from other designers looking to use more sustainable materials including Lululemon, Kering, and Adidas. Though other companies are considering using this leather alternative, Stella McCartney released the first-ever Mylo garments.
Producing Mylo is a vegan eco-friendly material that is produced like real leather instead of using vegetable tanning for a similar texture for biodegradable and natural leather. Mylo has a low carbon footprint with the production as Mylo can grow on a sheet of sawdust in approximately two weeks.
