Fashion innovators turn to these next-gen climate-friendly materials

Brands from Adidas to Zara know that old-school materials can’t deliver the low-carbon future that fashion needs. Climate change is disrupting their production of traditional staples like cotton, leather and wool. Consider that the apparel industry creates about 4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s nowhere near being able to curtail that.

That’s why industry innovators are turning their thinking upside down by sourcing new materials from some surprising and unlikely sources.

These new materials could offer 39 percent of the emissions reductions that fashion requires to reach net zero, according to a 2024 report by the Apparel Impact Institute and Fashion for Good. Innovations in this space rose by 400 percent since 2017, from 130 to 650, according to Fashion for Good. Mushroom-based leather, bio-based synthetics, and plant-based “fur” are just a few.

“Next-generation” materials by definition use renewable ingredients and fewer “finite resources such as petroleum, land, and water”, a report in June found, backed by Kering and the Laudes Foundation. Enabling circularity and minimizing risks to people and animals are other criteria.

Next-gen startups raised $500 million in 2023, according to the Material Innovation Initiative. Gucci, H&M, Levi’s, Puma, Reformation, Stella McCartney and Vince are among the scores of first-mover brands experimenting. Many of the materials have starred only on catwalks or in one-off collections, but a few are slipping into the mainstream. Here’s a scan of emerging materials turning heads:

Instead of cotton

The problem: People have spun cotton into cloth for at least 4,000 years, yet rising temperatures and fickle rainfall threaten the crop. It’s also a water hog.

What’s emerging: Scientists are genetically modifying cotton for hotter, drier times. In the meantime, startup Galy of Boston is brewing cotton with sugar to grow more cotton fibers in a lab. H&M Group and Inditex have funded it.

One alternative to cotton includes cellulosic fibers from sustainably sourced trees, hemp or crop waste. Swedish company Circulose, emerging from the bankruptcy of Renewcell, transforms castoff cotton and other cellulosic fibers into pulp. The recycled-textile material, used in capsule collections by Levi’s, Calvin Klein and H&M, will feature in a main collection in 2025, by the Los Angeles brand Reformation and others. New York textile-to-textile recycling startup Evrnu in March launched a $600 hoodie, designed by Christopher Bevans, using its Nucycl material.

As for novel biomaterials, Outerknown’s cotton-like Universal Blanket shirt this fall was made from seaweed-based Kelsun fiber from North Carolina startup Keel Labs. In Germany, Seacell produces biodegradable fiber that’s 19 percent seaweed.

Instead of polyester

The problem: For nearly a century, the fossil fuel industry has provided petrochemicals for polyester. Polyester overtook cotton as the most popular fabric this century. Yet in addition to their heavy greenhouse gas burden, synthetic microfibers pollute the environment and pose health risks.

What’s emerging: Startups Carbios and Samsara Eco seek to replace virgin fossil derivatives in apparel by “infinitely” recycling polyester textiles with enzymes. Chemical recyclers using different methods include Circ, Reju and H&M-backed Syre.

Algae is also popping up as an bio-alternative, such as in a Stella McCartney tank top that featured kelp-based Kelsun in September. Qwstion of Zug Zug, Switzerland, uses the Abacá banana plant to make Bananatex, which can replace polyester, viscose or rayon. Alt Tex of Brampton, Canada, uses food waste as its fiber feedstock.

Instead of nylon

The problem: Nylon carries similar baggage as polyester for its fossil-fuel dependency.

What’s emerging: Italian fiber brand Fulgar is applying its expertise in polyamide, also known as nylon, to new biobased yarns. Its Evo fiber, made using the drought-tolerant castor oil plant, debuted in swimwear by Reformation in spring 2024. Other companies, like Samsara Eco, are instead recycling nylons. The Australian enzymatic recycling startup has backing from athleisure giant Lululemon.

Instead of leather

The problem: Leather is a byproduct of beef, one of the world’s most carbon-intensive substances across its lifecycle. The chemically intense tanning process also uses lots of water. And exotic animal skins, whose use has harmed vulnerable species and ecosystems, were banned by London Fashion Week in November.

What’s emerging: Startups are throwing pineapples (Ananas Anam), cactus (Desserto), apples (Vegetex) and grapes (Vegea) at the problem. Alt-leathers that eschew animal and fossil products feature in jackets, bags and shoes from the likes of H&M, Hugo Boss, and Nike.

Other early companies are specializing in concocting “leather” from mycelium, found in the roots of mushrooms. This material mostly features in handbags and shoes rather than large garments. Copenhagen brand Ganni, however, in 2023 fashioned a blazer made of material from mycelium startup Polybion. Although Bolt Threads abandoned its Mylo material, MycoWorks continues to brew its biodegradable Reishi, which featured in a luxury Hermes bag. In 2023, MycoWorks harvested its first thousand sheets. Tory Burch and Everlane use Modern Meadow’s alt leather in handbags. The startup’s Bio-Vera material blends plant proteins and polymers.

Another approach is to use the skins of invasive species. Inversa’s “ethical exotics” feature python, non-native carp and lionfish leather. VitroLabs cultures real animal cells in a lab to make real leather. Gucci parent Kering has invested.

Instead of wool

The problem: Shearing sheep for wool or goats for cashmere is, for some, a bucolic scene. However, animal welfare groups say the practices are inhumane. And wool production emits far more greenhouse gases than other materials.

What’s emerging: French designer Vanessa Bruno featured a coat of Cannaba, a blend of recycled polyester bottles with hemp for a texture that resembles wool. Shanghai-based fake fur producer Ecopel, with French mill Peltex, created it. In Tamil Nadu, India, Faborg makes a wool alternative from the Calotropis Gigantea plant, whose hollow fibers insulate heat.

Instead of cashmere

The problem: The rise of cheap cashmere has taken a tool on Mongolia, where goat populations have nearly tripled since 1999. Overgrazing is threatening grasslands and biodiversity.

What’s emerging: Rather than purchase virgin cashmere, Reformation buys scrap cashmere for some of its fashions. Stella McCartney, Patagonia and Eileen Fisher get their “circular” material from ReVerso. The Prato, Italy, operation shreds cashmere and wool offcuts from factories and consumers, then spins the waste into new material. KD New York’s Vegetable Cashmere is attempting the buttery softness of cashmere with organic soy fibers.

Instead of down

The problem: Animal rights groups charge the down industry with needlessly torturing geese.

What’s emerging: For those who wish goose down would become as much of a social no-no as fur, vegan options are emerging. Jackets stuffed with flowers and a biopolymer, instead of feathers, appear in winter jackets sold by H&M. The WLDFLWR filler comes from Pangaia, a London hybrid fashion-innovation startup. Also, BioPuff of Bristol, England, makes a filler harvested from the Typha Latifolia plant, which benefits wetlands where it grows. BioFluff of Paris and New York makes another plant-based stuffing, which it’s also using in stuffed animals.

Instead of fur

The problem: Nothing says social anachronism like a new fur coat. Animal rights campaigners won this war decades ago. Although acrylic or polyester “fur” production doesn’t mistreat animals or use as much land as real fur operations, the fossil fuel materials bring other tradeoffs.

What’s emerging: Innovators are using plants instead of fossil fuels to mimic fur. BioFluff’s Savian is made from nettle, hemp or flax that can be partly sourced from waste. It featured in a long coat in Stella McCartney’s pre-fall 2024 collection.

Instead of wood-based fibers

The problem: Every year 300 million trees die for fashion, according to nonprofit Canopy. It works with brands, suppliers and designers to keep wood from ancient forests out of cellulosic textiles, such as rayon, viscose and modal.

What’s emerging: A recent Canopy collaboration with recycling startup Circ created lyocell recycled from polycotton waste. It featured in styles by Christian Siriano at New York Fashion Week in September. Zara also uses the material. Others are exploring plant alternatives to trees for making manmade cellulosic fibers. One of them, Nanollose creates a “tree-free” Nullarbor textile, made from liquid waste from the Indonesian coconut industry.

Instead of silk

The problem: Silk making is resource-and labor-intensive. Growing mulberry trees to feed a particular silkworm species can also harm biodiversity. It takes several thousand silkworms to make a single yard of silk.

What’s emerging: In ancient Greek myths, the goddess Athena turned Arachne into a spider for bragging about her weaving talents. Only in recent years have scientists tried to mimic in labs the elusive properties of spiderwebs which are stronger than bulletproof Kevlar. Kraig Biocraft Laboratories of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has genetically engineered silkworms to produce spider silk for fibers, but it’s intended for high-performance apparel rather than a silk alternative.

Tsuruoka, Japan-based Spiber uses synthetic biology to create Brewed Protein, the basis for custom fibers resembling silk, cashmere or wool. The limited edition North Face Moon Parka, made from Spiber’s material and sold by lottery in 2019, is now an eBay collectible. Bolt Threads of Berkeley, California, also bioengineers yeast to create proteins that imitate spider silk, then spins it into Microsilk.

What’s coming next

Groups cropping up in the past decade to support “next gen” fiber development include the consultancy Biofabricate of New York, London startup incubator The Mills Fabrica and Fashion for Good of Amsterdam.

However, next-gen materials require substantial funding, research and development beyond 2030, the deadline for many corporate climate-emissions targets, according to Beth Jensen, senior director of climate and nature impact at Accelerating Circularity. The nonprofit works with organizations across fashion supply chains, focusing on high-volume materials such as polyester, cotton and leather.

“We’ll see more brands lean in to ‘prime the pump’ with ambitious public next gen targets,” said Nicole Rycroft, founder and executive director of the anti-deforestation nonprofit Canopy. “They’re cognizant that this cannot be a shift that trades in deforestation or degradation for cotton cultivation — there must be a door number 3 and that’s next gen both for [manmade cellulosic] textiles as well as synthetics.”

As innovative materials begin to reach the masses, experts agree that the industry will need to closely watch their impacts to ensure they don’t repeat the problems of legacy materials.