New VTT research offers a scalable, durable, and eco-friendly alternative to animal leather using mushrooms.
Have they finally made it so it will not just disntegrate in 2 or 3 years on its own like the fake leather now doess?
Cork leather is likely what you want, at least it’s available already.
My cork leather belt has lasted easily three times as long as my faux leather belts before that, and it’s the buckle that crapped out in the end.
Yeah I’ve gotten about 6 years out of mine so far and it’s still holding up.
Excellent, I also really like cork leather but happy for more alternatives, especially sustainable ones
This is not an alternative, it’s a different material entirely.
You know what you get if you take a piece of paper and add a fabric backing to prevent tearing and chemical treatment to prevent water solubility? You get a surprisingly durable piece of paper. You can paint it brown if you like, that won’t make it leather.
This time, the scientists took a different approach to the material formula itself. Instead of turning the fungal biomass straight into a leather-like sheet, they first processed it into a thick, wet, pulpy mass and grew it in a nutrient-rich liquid. Then the pulp was harvested, washed, and mixed with sorbitol and cellulose. Sorbitol makes it softer and less brittle, while the cellulose strengthens it, giving the material the right balance of flexibility and durability. The mixture was then spread into a thin layer and dried.
That’s paper. Fungus fiber instead of wood pulp, but still paper.
In laboratory testing, the material showed durability and strength comparable to traditional leather
More durability? Less durability? Equivalent durability?
Apparently the durability is incomparable, and unquantifiable. Perhaps it is unmeasurable.
when submerged in water, it broke down after 28 days
The material still needs to be more tear-resistant before it can move toward mass productionBecause you know leather is famously water-soluble. Looking forward to wearing a jacket that disintegrates in the rain.
This is paper.
Dude, have you ever owned anything leather? This product was submerged for 28 days. https://leatheradvice.com/leather-gets-wet/
Paper is awesome, so what if it’s paper. This is great news for sustainable products.
Leather can get warped and damaged by exposure to water, but it doesn’t dissolve. There are many leatherworking processes that involve soaking or steaming it and I’m not sure if this material would be quite as resistant. I think it’s a fine material, but it does feel a little bit misleading to present it as such a viable alternative to leather while only vaguely hinting at its actual durability and then admitting that it dissolves in water, albeit slowly. What does short term exposure look like? A hole in your faux leather jacket instead of a stain you might be able to fix?
I’ve had a leather wallet for three past ~10 years and it’s been wet a handful of times (not submerged, but things like being in my pocket when I got caught in the rain) and it still is in great condition.
They’re saying that it is similar. That’s literally what comparable means.
Except that it apparently tears easily, and it breaks down when wet, so… it’s neither durable nor strong, especially compared to leather.
If your interpretation of the use of “comparable” in this context is correct, meaning “similar” or “equivalent”, then the statement is objectively false based on the other information presented in the article.
My interpretation of “comparable” as meaning that these things are suitable for comparison is being generous to the author, assuming that they are not intentionally making a false statement.
it broke down after fully submerged in water for a month
if you’re not a scarecrow it’s probably going to be a usable alternative for most people
Aren’t they doing the same in Belgium?
Edit: they make mycelium leather and presented it a fashion week in 2025. I don’t know if they have made it industry scale yet.
Leather is animal hide, there is no “vegan”. Vegan leather is plastic, pleather, naugahyde. I’m all for new, sustainable materials. We just need to stop calling them stupid names that make no sense. It’s a new material, give it a new name.
Leather is a fine word to use for non-animal alternatives. Like nut milks and vegan meat products. It’s a classifier that conveys the use of the item.
Nut milks and other such products are also misleadingly named. They are not appropriate substitutes for actual dairy products. They don’t taste similar, provide the same nutritional content, nor do they work in place of real milk for cooking or baking.
The only similarity is the color of the liquid. By this logic we could also label white paint as “milk”.
Nut juice extract is more accurate.
Is that semen?
