A good news post for today: Multiple people and startup companies are working on ways to turn fungi into leather. Patents date from about five years ago (which is news to me), and are based on using the mycelium, or root structure, of mushrooms:
When mushroom roots are grown on sawdust or agricultural waste, they form a thick mat that can then be treated to resemble leather.
Because it’s the roots and not the mushrooms being used, this natural biological process can be carried out anywhere. It does not require light, converts waste into useful materials and stores carbon by accumulating it in the growing fungus.
Going from a single spore to a finished “fungi leather” (or “mycelium leather”) product takes a couple of weeks, compared with years required to raise a cow to maturity.
After that, the resulting material is dyed, pressed, or stamped as desired for the final product. It looks and feels like — and has similar durability to — animal-skin leathers.
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