Anthropocene Magazine: Mushroom leather may finally be ready for mass production

Researchers in Finland have developed a way to make leather-like fabrics from fungal mycelium at large scale using industrial equipment. This is a key advance towards vegan, plastic-free leather alternatives for the mass market. “Our process uses renewable feedstocks and mild conditions and does not involve livestock or chemically intensive processes,” says Géza Szilvay, at VTT Finland, who published the research in the journal ACS Applied Bio Materials. “In this respect the process differentiates clearly from production of animal or synthetic leathers.” Humans have for eons used animal hides to make clothing, utensils, and tools. Scientific advances have led to ethical synthetic leather. But those materials are made from fossil fuel-based plastics, so they create carbon emissions and linger in the environment for decades. Read ON.