2021´s biggest lifestyle trend has been sustainability. Science and innovation continuously shock us with the next natural product, but those outside of the fashion industry were not expecting to learn about it at Paris Fashion Week. Designer Stella McCartney shocked the world at her fall collection premiere with what now has gone viral as the next sustainable natural material: mushrooms.
The fashion industry has been called out by environmentalists, economists and consumers alike for excessively creating waste with fast fashion. As trends change, cheap and quickly accessible clothes are in demand, while last season's looks are often thrown away.
Consumers are taking this into account with the rise of thrift shopping for the reuse of clothes, and clothing swaps for recycling them (to other people). Tiktokers are always finding creative ways to wear clothes to create new looks.
But consumers can only do so much, it takes two to tango with the power that lies with producers. There is a lot of debate within the fashion industry fueled by the economy for moving to more sustainable production methods.
Fashion icons such as Stella McCartney, along with several known brands are going with mushrooms as a substitute for leather products. Mushrooms have a high potential to change how the industry contributes negatively to climate change impacts with leather production and fast fashion.
Moving Away From Fast Fashion
Fast fashion refers to clothes that are produced rapidly and in large quantities to meet the demand for fast-changing trends. According to environmentalists at Princeton University, fast fashion is responsible for the excessive waste that subsequentially negatively impacts climate change.
91.2% of world economies in 2019 represented the take-make-dispose model of production and consumption, according to the World Economic Forum, which includes the fashion industry. Leaders in fast fashion since the '90s include Zara, H&M, Topshop and Forever21.
Economists propose to fight excessive waste generated by this model by switching to a circular economy in which production is made from safe natural resources and waste is minimized. There is a $4.5 trillion world economic revenue projection for a circular economy by 2030, according to the World economic forum.
What does that mean for the fashion industry? Fashion giants and industry leaders are slowly but steadily catching on to the newest trend, sustainable production. Even Zara and H&M are marketing products made partially of recycled materials.
The viral material that is booming for fashion, food, and industrial materials is mushroom mycelium.
Uses For Mushrooms
If you turn a mushroom upside down, you will see lots of fibrous materials which are called mycelium. Over the past few years, technology has used these fibrous materials to construct sustainable and biodegradable products for construction, leather, and of course foods.
Bolt Threads is a materials solution company using science to find sustainable solutions. Their most talked-about material is Mylo, which is made of mushroom mycelium. It is a non-animal-made leather that has caught the eye of fashion giants. According to the company, mycelium is an infinite resource that also is critical for breaking down organic matter. Its biodegradability will revolutionize the potential of psuedo-leather goods around the world and for putting a pin in fast fashion.
The company coined the term unleather, meaning the radical decision to choose sustainable leather over animal skin or harmful synthetic-based materials. The Mylo consortium includes brands such as Adidas, Kering, Lululemon and Stella McCartney.
Mushrooms in Fashion
Stella McCartney aired her fall clothing collection at Paris Fashion Week. All of the pieces and looks were inspired by mushrooms, giving homage to her collaboration with Bolt Threads. Models wore shades of greens, puce, tans and browns with draping threads and ruffles. Even the music was inspired by the growth of mushrooms. Most anticipated were the first sightings of Stella McCartney's handbags made from Mylo.
If you visit Mylo's Instagram there are many images of the first handbags, Lululemon yoga mats and Adidas shoes made from Mylo. Adidas used their classic Stan Smith style to make the first Mylo shoes gives an ode to their history and promise for their future in making sustainable products.
Although for the time being, the products will not be made commercially available to the public, the direction for sustainability is solid.
The industry can only move as fast as the science, but the science is funded by the industry. While everyone waits for commercial availability we can only imagine what this will mean for the fashion industry.
If designers who work with leather, such as for shoes, bags and jackets, make the decision to unleather it will have a positive impact on the environment. PETA claims that leather production is directly correlated to livestock's methane emissions which is rapidly driving up greenhouse gases.
Seeing the fashion industry look towards mushrooms to produce vegan products was unexpected to say the least, but graciously welcomed in light of sustainability lifestyle trends.
