Biotechnology company MycoWorks has successfully harvested more than one thousand sheets of Fine Mycelium, its luxury leather alternative, at its plant in South Carolina.
The facility has been operating at a commercial scale since September 2023, and has not only met but exceeded expectations, with material shipments beginning ahead of schedule. The Fine Mycelium sheets can be used to create materials for use in a range of applications in automotive design.
The facility employs a tray-based process and incorporates automation methods, with the company stating it has “achieved a level of product quality exceeding that of its California pilot plant”. Over 10,000 trays are set to be harvested.
The company has announced that it has developed the capacity to ship the biomaterial in its untanned, “wet” form to tannery partners, eliminating an initial tanning step. This reduces costs and also enhances the output quality at tanneries processing Fine Mycelium into the company’s Reishi product.
Doug Hardesty, chief operating officer at MycoWorks, underscored the facility’s importance in transforming material supply chains with a low-carbon footprint and an adaptable biomaterial.
CEO Matt Scullin said, “The potential of our technology is not to replicate existing materials, but to leapfrog them – delivering an entirely new category of products to the market made from Fine Mycelium. Uniquely differentiated from leather, our first product, Reishi, represents an entirely new class of materials that is engineerable, controllable, durable and sustainable.”
