Plant-based composite bio-leather (Mykkö)

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Pollution and climate change are becoming the most influential and impactful threats that we will have to face in our lifetime. What we make, buy and consume will affect many generations after us. Fashion, as one of the most polluting yet lucrative industries, is now forced to face the consequences of its activities. With the current challenges we are facing in terms of water /CO2 pollution, textile waste and global resource crisis, there is an urgent need for more realistic ecological fibre alternatives.Mykkö is a plant-based vegan option for luxury leather and industry-facing material. Our R&D project will aim to offer an avant-garde sustainable material for the fashion industry with a strong focus on accessories and leather goods, while still being applicable to apparel in following development phases. Our innovative textile production process employs mycelium combined with plant-based biodegradable fibres. Materialising a virtuous cycle by using organic fibres, our product's end-of-life will be embedded in the circular economy.Through this proposal, we will set up our first pilot manufacturing facility, allowing us to complete R&D on the design-for-manufacturing as well as further optimisation of our local wild mycelium cultures to ensure that the production achieves its intended goals. Eventually making bio-fabrication a reality for the fashion industry, we will contribute to the wider supply chain by breaking the exhausted linear cycle of textile production and offer a radically new model that relies on living systems creating new aesthetics and materials to appeal to more and more conscious customers.