12 Futuristic Materials That Could Change the Face of Fashion
With an estimated 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from the livestock industry, the field of finding alternatives to traditional leather has seen a lot of innovation. Pioneers of this include mycelium-based materials like Mushroom Leather and MycoWorks, as well as plastic-free alternatives like Mirum. “What we’ve said over and over again is that if you’re ditching leather, you have to look at what you’re replacing it with,” Marenzi said. “If you’re replacing it with plastic, it’s not right.”
The current trend is to use post-consumer waste to develop recycled textiles, which has been a challenge for the industry at the moment (recycled materials for fashion often come from manufacturing or other industrial waste, plastic bottles are a classic example). Marenzi continued: "Even five years ago when we were talking about textile-to-fabric recycling, people thought that was the very distant future; ', then we can actually go to scale."
At the same time, the use of bio-based materials to replace synthetics, including Clarus, which turns natural fibers into high-performance materials, and Kintra, a fully biodegradable corn-based polyester fiber, are also gradually becoming popular.
Here are 12 of the most anticipated futuristic materials you need to know about right now:
Leather substitute
Mylo mushroom leather
Backed by Stella McCartney, Adidas, Gucci-owned Kering and Lululemon, Mushroom Leather is a "non-leather" made from the roots of mushrooms. The fungus cells grow large sheets of fluffy bubbles before they go through the normal tanning process that animal hides go through. While Mushroom Leather is primarily made from bio-based materials, it's not completely plastic-free, though the developers have set their sights on removing synthetic content entirely.
Reishi
Like Mylo, MycoWorks' Reishi material is made from sheets of mycelium leather grown from specially engineered cells grown by irrigation of agricultural waste. These leathers are then processed through a chrome-free tanning process that does not require synthetic substances. MycoWorks, which unveiled its first product in partnership with Hermès last year, secured $125 million in funding to help it expand in January.
Mirum
Mirum, created by Natural Fiber Welding, is a plastic-free leather alternative made from plants and minerals. According to the company, the material can be recycled indefinitely, making it even more circular. Allbirds and Pangaia were the first brands to create products with Mirum, and Ralph Lauren has also invested in the company.
Piñatex
One of the first leather alternatives to hit the market is Piñatex, made from pineapple kitchen waste and used by brands ranging from H&M to Hugo Boss. Currently this vegetable leather also contains PLA, a bio-based plastic, and finally coated with PU coating for durability.
Vegea
Vegea is another plant-based leather made from waste from grapes in the winemaking industry. This material, which still contains 45% PU, has been used by brands such as Ganni, Pangaia and Calvin Klein since it won the H&M Foundation Global Innovation Award in 2017.
VitroLabs
After VitroLabs raised about NT$1.43 billion earlier this year, the company's labs have developed artificial leather that replicates the look and feel of traditional leather using just a few animal cells.
Recycled fabric
Circulose
The Circulose material developed by Renewcell is made from 100% waste clothing. They use renewable energy to separate the cotton in the clothes, which is then broken down into wood pulp, which is then converted into a man-made fiber. H&M is the first brand to launch Circulose products in 2020, while Levi's used the fabric to create the classic 501 series earlier this year.
NuCycl
Evrnu's NuCycl material is also made entirely from recycled clothing, which is also primarily made from post-consumer cotton waste. The fully recyclable fabric has been adopted by brands such as Stella McCartney, who co-published the Infinite Hoodie by NuCycl in 2019 with Adidas.
Bio-based fabric
Kintra
Finding 100 percent bio-based alternatives to synthetics like polyester and nylon is an important step forward for the industry, and Kintra is one of a new generation of innovations hoping to fill the void. The company partnered with Pangaia to develop and mass-produce a biodegradable alternative to traditional polyester.
Clarus
Natural Fiber Welding's Clarus technology turns natural fibers such as cotton, hemp and wool into high-performance fabrics with the same properties as synthetics. Earlier this year, Ralph Lauren released the first polo shirt made with this innovative fiber.
Negative Carbon Material
Air Carbon
Excitingly, Newlight Technologies' AirCarbon material is carbon-negative, meaning it actually absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The leather substitute is made by replicating a process that occurs in nature: marine organisms turn methane and carbon dioxide into a molecule that is later soluble. With the company announcing its partnership with Nike last year, expect to see more AirCarbon products in the future.
LanzaTech
LanzaTech is another carbon capture innovator to watch. The company converts carbon dioxide emitted by steel mills into ethylene glycol, which is then turned into a polyester yarn. Zara released the first garments produced with this technology this year (20% of these clothes come from carbon emissions, and the rest is PTA traditionally contained in polyester fibers), while Lululemonu is also working with LanzaTech in 2021.
