Californian firm touts ‘mushroom leather’ as sustainability gamechanger

Vegan leather alternative isn't just the hot fashion must-have - it could teach us about consumption and waste

Vegan alternatives to leather could save more than just animals. The scientists behind fashion's new latest must-have - the mushroom leather" handbag - believe that mycelium, a material grown from fungi which can be engineered to look and feel like calfskin or sheepskin, could help save the planet.

Speaking to the Guardian before a talk at the Business of Fashion Voices conference in Oxfordshire, Dr Matt Scullin, CEO of biomaterials company MycoWorks, forecast that mushroom leather could be a sustainability gamechanger, unlocking a future of design which begins with the material, not with the object".