Adidas has announced it’s launching a line of sneakers made from mushroom-based leather.

As part of a 2021 sustainability initiative from Europe’s largest sportswear manufacturer, the new Stan Smiths will be entirely vegan, and created using mycelium: that is, the vegetative part of fungi that produces mushrooms.

On December 28, the German multinational announced that “adidas seeks to break new ground: Together with partners, adidas is developing a new material, a purely biological leather alternative made from mycelium, and will use it for the very first time in the creation of footwear.”

This isn’t the company’s first foray into vegan footwear. In 2020, Adidas launched plant-based versions of several classic sneakers, which quickly became bestsellers. Now it’s completely renounced the use of fur in all products, and it’s working with partners on other sustainability projects that include recycling cotton and developing a “particularly climate-friendly running shoe” as part of a drive that will see 60% of all Adidas products in 2021 being made with sustainable materials.

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Source: Good News Network

Designer Nina Bruun shapes biotech firm Grown's mushroom-based material for the safe carriage of Astep lighting.

One of the key aims of Wallpaper* Re-Made is to re-think the way we consume, and packaging is a crucial link in this story. Last year, a chat with Alessandro Sarfatti led to a discussion about what he perceived to be an important problem. Coming from a family of lighting experts (he is the grandson of design legend Gino Sarfatti, of Arteluce, see W* 218 and son of Luceplan founder Riccardo Sarfatti), and founder of a lighting brand himself, he is well aware of the amount of plastic needed to transport lighting pieces.

Sarfatti, who used to be CEO of Luceplan, founded Astep in 2014, intent on creating lighting products with contemporary designs and innovative technologies to improve our domestic experience and quality of life.

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Photography: Mikkel Vigholt Petersen
Writer: Rosa Bertoli

EuroMycel are experts in industrial microbiology applied to selecting and propagating mushroom mycelium cultures.
The French biotechnology laboratory, EuroMycel, is part of Bonduelle Group and benefits from its international reputation.

EuroMycel’s laboratory is also part of an 100% integrated industry with expertise throughout the mushroom production process, from start to finish. EuroMycel laboratory’s main focus is the selection and propagation of Agaricus mushroom strains and the creation of unique products.

In a rapidly changing mushroom world, EuroMycel are strong players and are holding their own, all thanks to their know-how. From the way they have managed to differentiate their breeding strategy, to the quality of their varieties through to their organisational flexibility.

The company has several different strains, but two of them are first class showpieces.
• First, the strain E21, developed for mechanised harvesting. It is the undisputed leader in sales, in France, and has rapidly gained popularity in The Netherlands and Belgium over the last 3 years.
• Second, and most promising, the strain E58 Premium, developed for the fresh market. It is the sales leader in Poland, and it has been very quickly adopted and mastered by Russian mushroom producers. Devoted to and customised for the fresh food market, its qualities include its ability to move towards larger, slower-growing mushrooms, and its keen water holding capacity. It is an accomplished and leading strain, ahead of the game.

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