The Leather of the Future
The Leather of the Future
“Crawford is not the first to experiment with leathers made of mushrooms.”
- Amadou
- “Another use is for forming a felt-like fabric used in the making of hats and other items.”
- “It can be used as a kind of artificial leather.”
- “Mycologist Paul Stamets famously wears a hat made of amadou.”
Did he really have to make the mushroom hat look like a mushroom?
That's just a plus
why not? mushrooms are dope
- Amadou
I bought a pair of vegan leather shoes a couple years ago that were made from cactus skin and were touted as being as long lasting and versatile as leather. Bull-fucking-shit, man! I have 10 year old leather boots that are still in great condition despite constant heavy wear. I wore those shoes only a couple times per week for about 4 months and the "leather" started falling apart. I'd love to see a leather replacement that is as good as leather, or almost as good, but cheaper. So far all of the replacements have been considerably worse and cost as much or more money. Hopefully these mushrooms end up working out.
If it's what I think it is, cactus leather is more polyurethane than prickly pear. I don't really mind there being plastic in it, like as a glue or binder, but if it's not mostly plants it shouldn't be marketed like it is.
The leather from the article is all mushroom but a terrible material for now.
There's a lot more variation in fake leathers than in the real stuff, whether it's plants or petroleum. Anecdotal and not a one to one comparison, but I've had (plastic) vegan boots last a bit longer than the leather ones before it. My cork wallet was also better than cheap leather.