MycoWorks’ launches its first e-commerce platform for Reishi, its proprietary mushroom leather, already revolutionizing luxury fashion, automotive, and furniture industries.
MycoWorks, the innovative company behind the premium mycelium-based leather alternative Reishi, has launched its first e-commerce platform allowing customers to order Reishi directly. This development coincides with the introduction of its proprietary Rei-Tanning technology, which enhances Reishi’s performance, enabling its use in luxury products that require intricate construction techniques such as stitch-and-turn and edge applications.
The Rei-Tanning process, a collaborative effort between MycoWorks’ Innovation Centre in San Francisco and tannery experts in Igualada, Spain — a region renowned for its traditional leather tanning expertise — treats Reishi sheets to achieve desirable properties like fullness, softness, durability, and resistance to water and other elements. This advancement unlocks new applications for Reishi, overcoming challenges that have long hindered biomaterials in achieving such performance.
Recent third-party testing has validated that Reishi, with the Rei-Tanning process applied, meets or exceeds key quality indicators compared to traditional luxury leather. Notable achievements include a Bally Flex resistance for flexibility and creasing of up to 20,000 cycles, Martindale Abrasion Resistance of up to 25,600 cycles, colorfastness in dye transfer of over 200 cycles in Veslic dry rub testing, passing an aging test at 50°C and 90 percent relative humidity, and finish adhesion of 0.5N/mm.
French furniture brand Ligne Roset, a strategic partner of MycoWorks, has conducted proprietary tests on Reishi in its internal lab, using rigorous standards that exceed typical furniture industry benchmarks. These tests included the successful completion of the Martindale Abrasion Resistance test of up to 50,000 cycles and a sitting simulation test replicating a 100kg human body for over 25,000 cycles. This collaboration signifies Reishi’s potential in the luxury furnishings market, which represents approximately ten percent of the global leather and synthetic leather market.
MycoWorks’ partnerships extend beyond furniture; in 2022, the company secured a strategic investment from GM Ventures, the investment arm of General Motors, to co-develop Fine Mycelium materials for sustainable automotive interiors. This collaboration aims to explore the use of non-animal materials in automotive design, marking MycoWorks’ entry into one of the largest end-use markets for leather. In 2024, Cadillac, a division of General Motors, announced a collaboration with MycoWorks to develop a new class of material for high-performance automotive interiors. This material incorporates mycelium, the renewable root structure of mushrooms, and other bio-based ingredients, aiming to offer a sustainable alternative to traditional leather without compromising performance or aesthetics.
The fashion industry has also embraced MycoWorks’ innovations. A notable collaboration with luxury brand Hermès led to the development of Sylvania, a Fine Mycelium material exclusively crafted for Hermès. This partnership, announced in 2021, resulted in the reimagining of Hermès’s “Victoria” travel bag, combining canvas, elements of calfskin, and Sylvania, showcasing the potential of mycelium-based materials in high-end fashion.
The global vegan leather market is experiencing significant growth, driven by increasing consumer awareness of environmental sustainability and animal welfare. In 2023, the market was valued at more than $60 million and is projected to reach $154.56 million by 2033. This surge is attributed to advancements in material science, leading to high-quality, durable alternatives to animal leather, and a rising demand for sustainable products across various industries, including fashion, automotive, and furniture.
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