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Luxury fashion house Hermès is launching a vegan leather bag made from mushrooms.
The French brand has partnered with biomaterial company MycoWorks to create a mycelium material named Sylvania.
Vegan leather bag
The three-year collaboration has resulted in a leather-free version of Hermès’ iconic Victoria travel bag. However, specific details of the launch have yet to be announced.
According to reports, the Victoria bag has been ‘tanned and finished by Hermès tanners to further refine its strength and durability’. It is then shaped in the workshops by Hermès craftspeople’.
Hermès X MycoWorks
“Sylvania represents how nature and biotechnology can work in concert to create a material with the highest standards of quality.”
Matt Scullin, CEO of MycoWorks
Matt Scullin is the CEO of MycoWorks. He said: “We couldn’t imagine a better partner than Hermès to present our first object made of Fine Mycelium.
“Hermès and MycoWorks share common values of craftsmanship, quality, innovation, and patience… Hermès recognized that MycoWorks’ unique biotechnology approach to enhancing a natural material meant that Fine Mycelium had the potential to be the highest quality mycelium in the world.
Scullin then concluded: “Sylvania represents how nature and biotechnology can work in concert to create a material with the highest standards of quality.”
‘Innovation in the making’
Moreover, Pierre-Alexis Dumas is Hermès Artistic Director. He added: “MycoWorks’ vision and values echo those of Hermès.
“A strong fascination with natural raw material and its transformation, a quest for excellence, with the aim of ensuring that objects are put to their best use and that their longevity is maximized.
Dumas then concluded: “With Sylvania, Hermès is at the heart of what it has always been… Innovation in the making.”
Celebrity investors
Last year, celebrities Natalie Portman and John Legend invested in MycoWorks.
The stars backed the company in its latest financing round – where it raised a staggering $45 million. Moreover, MycoWorks says it will use the money to ‘scale-up demand’ for its leather-free materials.
Despite COVID-19, the brand says it has seen ‘accelerating demand’ for its product throughout 2020.
