Woke + Luxurious = Vegan Mylo Fungi-based Leather
Combining being “woke” with luxury, Stella McCartney is the first fashion house in the world to launch garments created with Mylo by Bolt Threads – a vegan sustainable, animal-free leather alternative made from mycelium, the infinitely renewable underground root system of fungi.
In October 2020, Stella McCartney was announced as part of an exclusive consortium of brands working with Mylo, (along with Kering, adidas and lululemon), exploring its uses and providing critical feedback to the Bold Threads team. Stella McCartney seems to be the perfect candidate, as she herself is a life-long vegetarian who has never used leather, furs, skins, or feathers in any products in her collection. She’s done this for both ethical and environmental reasons, setting a standard for the use of alternative materials.
I believe the Stella community should never have to compromise luxury desirability or sustainability, and Milo allows us to make that a reality. These rare, exclusive pieces embody our shared commitment with Bolt Threads to innovate a kinder fashion of industry – one that sees the birth of beautiful, luxurious materials as opposed to the deaths of our fellow creatures on the planet.
– Stella McCartney
Combining deep science with high-fashion design, the garments show the potential of this next-generation material and pave the way for future commercial offerings. Remarkably similar to animal leather, (yet designed to reduce environmental impacts), Mylo is a soft substantial material that is certified, bio-based, meaning it is predominantly from renewable ingredients found in nature today. Mycellium is regenerative and thrives abundantly in the wild, feeding on natural resources.
This state-of-the-art process of recreating nature in a lab, is designed to have a minimal environmental impact and takes days, not years like raising cattle. It requires almost 5,000 gallons to produce roughly 2 pounds of leather, with animal agriculture counting for approximately 18% of global greenhouse emissions. Mylo is also not petroleum-based, unlike synthetic leathers, meaning more fossil fuels can be kept in the ground and less plastic is deposited into landfills and oceans.
“Creating new, high-quality bio materials is a major technological challenge and massive opportunity for people and the planet. I am incredibly grateful and humbled by Stella and her team for their long-term partnership and support in bringing Mylo to the world. The material used in these two garments not only represent a huge step forward in both aesthetics and performance of bio materials, but also marks the beginning of the rollout of product-ready Mylo. This is tangible progress towards large-scale production where Mylo can make a significant positive impact on our planet.”, says Dan Widmaier, CEO and Founder of Bolt Threads.
The end result of the first ever garments created from Mylo – a black bustier top and utilitarian trousers crafted in McCartney’s signature style of sharp tailoring that combines a dichotomy of feminine and masculine attitudes. Although neither of these pieces are currently for sale, McCartney will integrate Mylo into future seasonal offerings.
McCartney and Bolt Threads have actually been partners in sustainable innovation since 2017, and the luxury house has been part of the Mylo journey since its inception. The first product ever created with Mylo was a prototype of McCartney’s’ iconic Fallabella bag, which debuted as part of the renowned Victoria and Albert Museum’s, ‘Fashioned from Nature’ exhibit in 2018.
To kick off the program the designer enlisted Paris Jackson to do a brief video with Jackson narrating the details of the program and why it is important to her personally.
The Stella McCartney brand once again proves it’s true to its mission of being an ethical and modern company, by owning responsibility for the resources it uses and the impact it has on the environment.
