British conscious luxury pioneer Stella McCartney is no stranger to experimenting with sustainable materials – from ready-to-wear garments made with organic cotton to the Stella McCartney Airslide shoes released in Spring/Summer 2021 that uses recycled manufacturing waste.
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The brand is now introducing a new material into its lexicon with the Frayme Mylo, its first-ever bag created from a mycelium, a root-like structure of fungi known for its branching, thread-thin appearance. For this, McCartney teamed up with California-based innovation firm Bolt Threads which had created the trademark Mylo material earlier in 2018 with the ability to replicate the look and feel of genuine leather.
Mycelium mimics the microstructure of collagen, giving the Frayme Mylo bag a soft-to-touch feel unlike synthetics. Stella McCartney and the Bolt Threads team went through six iterations of the bag before reaching the final product.
If the bag looks sorta familiar, that is because it has taken design cues from the popular Falabella tote, which was also created using vegan leather in the form of recycled polyester. The result is a trendy crescent-shaped hobo bag in black featuring a chunky two-tone recyclable aluminium chain strap with a medallion made of zamac alloy to contrast its body.
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This plush synthetic leather material is not the only thing that makes the Frayme Mylo desirable. Consider how only 100 pieces of the £1,995 (S$3,420) bag will be made available when it drops for purchase worldwide on July 1 via www.stellamccartney.com.
The Frayme Mylo is the latest move by luxury brands tapping into the potential of sustainable mycelium leather. Hermes unveiled a new version of its Victoria bag for Fall/Winter 2021 made with Sylvania, a mushroom leather developed by California company MycoWorks.
