MycoWorks USA has announced that they have successfully produced more than 1,000 sheets of this revolutionary luxury leather alternative in their scale Fine Mycelium™ plant and that the quality of these biomaterials has surpassed the levels achieved in their California pilot plant.
This achievement sets the stage for MycoWorks to move to the next stage of increased production, with over 10,000 pallets already loaded and expected to be ready for harvesting in the coming weeks. The pallets will first be handed over to specialists at MycoWorks partner tanneries across Europe, who will convert the Fine Mycelium™ into a variety of products, including MycoWorks' own flagship material, Reishi™.
The company's first revenue-generating shipment has been shipped months ahead of schedule from MycoWorks, S.C., and will soon reach customers and partners who have booked nearly two years' worth of capacity at Mycoworks, S.C., in advance.
The panels will first pass through the hands of experts at MycoWorks' partner tanneries across Europe, where Fine Mycelium™ will be transformed into products including the company's own flagship material, Reishi™ - a fully-grown, customizable, low-carbon biomaterial with the strength, feel and durability of the world's finest natural leather.
Fine Mycelium™ grown at MycoWorks in South Carolina has exceeded quality standards for typical flakes grown at the company's California pilot plant due to years of implementing quality and expanding learning from the pilot.
Focusing on achieving the highest performance and aesthetic quality in Fine Mycelium™, MycoWorks has developed a new process for manufacturing mycelial materials and successfully scaled it up by adding key elements of automation - a first for biomaterials.
Three years of R&D in pilot plants paved the way for rapid expansion.
Since breaking ground on the plant in August 2022, MycoWorks began operations at its South Carolina facility in September 2023 and harvested its first sheets there in November.
The company's proprietary process is running as expected, with quality being realized ahead of schedule, proving that the company's proprietary pallet-based process can be performed virtually anywhere.
Process automation improves sheet quality while reducing costs.
MycoWorks has developed entirely new systems and equipment for its unique tray-based biomaterials process to manufacture Fine Mycelium™, utilizing existing automated equipment from the consumer goods, automotive, food, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
MycoWorks has been able to improve quality standards while reducing labor inputs to 1/4 of what they were and delivering Premium Mycelium™ to its partners professionally, effectively and efficiently.
Demonstrated key vertical scaling techniques.
MycoWorks has implemented several key technologies for cost reduction and scale-up at MycoWorks in South Carolina, including double collection of boards from pallets and elimination of the initial tanning step at the plant.
The Fine Mycelium™ process engineers mycelium during growth to form dense sheets of biomaterial in a unique tray-based scalable system.
Until recently, only one bacterial filament could be harvested per tray; today, two filaments are harvested per tray, increasing yields.MycoWorks will begin implementing this breakthrough in 100% of its production by the end of 2024.
In addition, the company has developed the ability to ship untanned "wet" forms of Fine Mycelium™ to tannery partners.
Eliminating the costly initial tanning - i.e. stabilization - process and reducing the need for further chemicals through wet shipping both reduces costs and results in high quality output from tanneries processing Fine Mycelium™ into Ganoderma™.
Doug Hardesty, COO of MycoWorks, noted, "In 2023, MycoWorks achieved several manufacturing milestones, most notably the start of production of the world's first commercial-scale mycelial biomaterial in South Carolina and the harvesting of the first high-quality, fine mycelium using the plant's new systems and process automation ™.
"Our team re-engineered and expanded our tray-based process to enable low-cost and high-quality production while delivering Fine Mycelium™ to the market ahead of schedule, just 17 months after groundbreaking."
MycoWorks of South Carolina is a marvelous achievement and now offers quality from craftsmanship through a retractable pallet.
Supply chain breakthroughs in the luxury industry.
The luxury industry has been eager to incorporate MycoWorks' Fine Mycelium™ technology into their material supply chain to enable product traceability from growth to tanning - from brand to final product.
Unique print codes on each sheet allow for unprecedented monitoring and the ability to fine-tune the desired characteristics of the paper, tray-by-tray, throughout its growth cycle.
MycoWorks has this level of material adjustability and origin exclusivity that is currently unheard of in the natural materials supply chain.
Fine mycelium offers the materials industry a new option with high environmental standards. As reported by MycoWorks in the LCA of finished products and tanning boards, the carbon footprint of Fine Mycelium™ is very low, between 2.75.8 kg/m2.
The finished panels are virtually zero plastic and remain biodegradable. Finishing agents less than 1% by weight, common to all leathers, can be selectively applied to the surface of the sheet to prevent scratching and water damage.
There is no other material on the market today with the rare combination of scalable, traceable, low-impact and high-quality performance characteristics that Fine Mycelium™ manufactured products such as Ganoderma™ can boast.
This unique positioning allows MycoWorks' technology to transform the supply chain for fashion and luxury goods, helping them to overcome the shortage of natural leather due to declining beef and dairy consumption, while using high quality, natural materials that are in line with modern values.
MycoWorks South Carolina represents the future of soft goods design and manufacturing.
"The potential of our technology is not to replicate existing materials, but to go beyond them - to offer the market a whole new category of products made from Fine Mycelium™. Uniquely different from leather, our first product, Reishi™, represents a new category of engineered, controlled, durable and sustainable materials. At MycoWorks, we are designing materials for a new world and a future where mycelium is the natural material of choice."
About MycoWorks
In 2013, co-founders Philip Roth and Sophia Wang established MycoWorks, a San Francisco-based biomaterials company dedicated to bringing new mycelial culture materials to the world.
MYCOWORKS' patented Fine Mycelium™ technology is a breakthrough in advanced manufacturing platforms and materials science that engineers the mycelium as it grows to form proprietary, interlocking cellular structures for unparalleled beauty, feel, strength and durability.
The company says its flagship material - Reishi™ - is a new material category for the world's best luxury brands.
