Leather-like material biofabrication using fungi

Fungi-derived leather substitutes are an emerging class of ethically and environmentally responsible fabrics that are increasingly meeting consumer aesthetic and functional expectations and winning favour as an alternative to bovine and synthetic leathers. While traditional leather and its alternatives are sourced from animals and synthetic polymers, these renewable sustainable leather substitutes are obtained through the upcycling of low-cost agricultural and forestry by-products into chitinous polymers and other polysaccharides using a natural and carbon-neutral biological fungal growth process. Following physical and chemical treatment, these sheets of fungal biomass visually resemble leather and exhibit comparable material and tactile properties. Fungi-derived material can substitute for leather. This Review synthesizes information on this process and its environmental and ethical benefits.

Automated summary

Fungi-derived leather substitutes are emerging as an ethically and environmentally responsible alternative to traditional leather, produced through a natural fungal growth process using low-cost agricultural and forestry by-products, offering similar visual and material properties.