As interest in eco-friendly products increases, vegan products are being actively produced in each field. This trend goes to the fashion world. When making products, they started using naturally degradable vegan leather instead of animal or chemical leather.
In
Vegan leather, there are pinatex made from pineapple leaves and stems and
desserto made from cactus. Pinatex is a leather made by extracting fibers from
pineapple leaves and stems and remove sticky parts, then lumping them together
like a single cloth, and processing to make it light and flexible. Global brand
'Puma' has used Pinatex to produce shoes. Desserto goes through the process of
drying the cactus for more than 3 days, then making it into powder and mixing
it with other materials to make leather. Like animal skins, it is natural and
breathable, and has the advantage of being able to use it for a long time with
10 years lifespan. Desserto is being commercialized not only in Mexico but also
in Europe.
Maris Pineapple, Bag made of Pinatex
Collaboration
between Hermes and MycoWorks, an alternative textile company,
Luxury brand Hermes also started producing vegan leather products. In collaboration with California-based startup MycoWorks, which specializes in alternative textiles, the company announced the launch of a vegan handbag made of mushroom leather. MycoWorks has developed and has a patent for Mycelium, a mycelium of horseshoe mushrooms. The hypna is a spore spreading out in the shape of a tube, and the mycelium is the hypna that gets entangled and collected.
Philip Ross, the CEO of MycoWorks, applied for a patent for the ‘method for producing fungus structures’ in 2011. Mycelium grows accordingly when the desired shape of the frame is made, creating a structure, and is naturally entangled uniformly and tightly, increasing its density. MycoWorks continued research by applying for a patent for the “Mycelium growth bed” to produce leather with a delicate thread structure and a touch and durability that is no different from animal skins.
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| wipsglobal.com US patent, 16/657979 "Mycelium Growth Bed with perforation layer and related method for creating a uniform sheet of Mycelium from a solid state medium" |
Hermes, that noticed this, signed an exclusive contract with MycoWorks, and MycoWorks completed the new material, Sylvania, for three years. As the Hermes requested, he produced the upgraded material from the latest fabric 'Lace' announced in 2020. This material is characterized by less emission of warming substances such as CO2 compared to artificial products using petroleum or products made from animal materials. It is expected to be released at the end of this year after processing the material at Hermes' factory and completing through a finishing process.
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| MycoWorks.com Mushroom leather bag |
Animal
skins take several years to manufacture, and 17,000 liters of water are
required to produce 1 kg. On the other hand, vegan leather is receiving a lot
of attention because it takes only a few days to harvest plants and requires
only a small amount of water to reduce environmental pollution. As we are
increasing the production of sustainable products with an interest in the
environment in various fields, we look forward to the day when these products
are popularized and used by many people.
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