The next-generation materials revolution reached new heights in 2023, with a whopping 380 collaborations documented by the Material Innovation Initiative in its Brand Engagement in Next-Gen Materials report.
And 2024 has shown little signs of this appetite abating, with more than 40 alliances on MII’s books in the first three months of the year alone.
“It really is an exciting time for next-gen material collaborations. Not surprisingly, we see the most integration of next-gen leathers into accessories like bags and footwear,” Thomasine Dolan, director of materials innovation and design at MII, told Sourcing Journal. “For someone like me who comes from the fashion crowd, it’s been very heartening to see the auto industry dig into next-gen materials. Of course, this makes perfect sense as more vehicles become electric and auto makers look to make sustainable overhauls of their material bases. We expect this trend to continue as we are aware of some upcoming collabs to be announced later this year.”
From prosciutto purses to fruit skin silk suits, here are the top next-gen collaborations—so far—from 2024.
Next-Gen Leather
At a January New York Knicks game, Brooklyn-based brand Brave GentleMan was awarded a Small Business Roster grant from the Knicks and Chase Bank. Founder Joshua Katcher gifted the first ever—and fully functional—basketball made from Natural Fiber Welding’s Mirum material to Knicks alumni Raymond Felton’s youth basketball skills training academy. In March, Reformation dropped the Rosetta Shoulder Bag and the Silvana Bucket Bag, both made from Mirum.
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Also in January, Italian sportswear brand Lotto debuted the Lotto Ooh! sneaker at Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence. The tennis-inspired shoe was produced entirely with recycled materials, featuring an upper made from Mabel Industries’ Uppeal apple leather alternative. Stella McCartney also utilized Uppeal for her Spring 2024 collection, “The Lady Garden,” made of 90 percent responsible materials. The sustainability stalwart also debuted five handbags made from Uppeal in a burgundy colorway, as well as three variations of the Frayme bag utilizing the apple leather for the Summer 2024 collection.
At the Future Fashion Concepts event at Istituto Marangoni Miami from March through April, bespoke brand Felder+Felder showcased a vest made from Ecovative’s Forager mycelium hides. Meanwhile, New York City brand Dauphinette’s Autumn/Winter 2024 collection—aptly titled “The Vegetarian”—featured a prosciutto-patterned purse made from TômTex’s Series M mushroom leather alternative.
Belgian accessories brand Lies Mertern teamed with Belgian wine bar Wijnbar ONA on a limited-edition wine bag made from Vegea’s grape waste leather alternative. Only 30 bags were made for purchase.
In addition, “BMW is now offering a completely vegan interior for their new all-electric BMW i5 Touring model,” the MII said. “The car is upholstered with their proprietary Veganza material made from recycled plant material and is scheduled to launch in May in Europe and June for the rest of the world.”
The German automaker also recently teased its all-electric concept SUV—the Vision Neue Klasse X—which is partially upholstered with BMW’s new Verdana material, which is made with NFW’s Mirum leather alternative.
Next-Gen Silk
Pangaia presented its DNA Fruit Fiber Suits, made from 60 percent lyocell and 40 percent pineapple and banana leaf fibers, sourced from agricultural waste.
Keel Labs partnered with climate activist and sustainable fashion influencer Aditi Mayer on the first T-shirt made with the North Carolina-based startup’s flagship product, the seaweed-based Kelsun fiber.
“This launch is about so much more than creating a T-shirt—it’s our mission come-to-life, offering the industry a product that can be produced at scale,” said Keel Labs co-founder and COO, Aleks Gosiewski. “In partnership with Aditi Mayer, we’re demonstrating to the fashion industry and consumers alike that next-gen material solutions are here, and they’re able to be implemented in brands’ and their partners’ supply chains today.”
Reformation also teamed with an activist—Monica Lewinsky—as well as Vote.org on a collection of workwear essentials under the “You’ve Got the Power” voting campaign. Various styles featured Tencel Lyocell.
French clothing brand Sessùn utilized Lenzing’s Tencel fibers for various pieces in its spring collection. At the same time, Patrick McDowell used Tencel Luxe for his Autumn/Winter 2024 “Orpheus Ball” collection, creating “orchestra-inspired designs” with the fiber, MII said, which debuted at London Fashion Week. Across the pond at New York Fashion Week, Finnish glass artists Sini Majuri and Marja Hepo-aha presented an eight-piece collection juxtaposing established glass sculptures with novel textile materials—including fibers from Spinnova.
Two Beckmans College of Design students also used Spinnova for the school’s Fashion Collaboration Show in Stockholm. Fashion design students Emma Carling and Miranda Berg created their collections using only cellulosic fibers.
Next-Gen Down & Fur
Niklas Skovgaard created a coat with a matching hat and leggings utilizing BioFluff’s Savian, Renewcell’s Circulose and Oleago’s Oleatex, which was showcased at Copenhagen Fashion Week as part of Ganni’s “Future, Talent, Fabrics” exhibition.
BioFluff’s plant-based Savian fur was also used in a collaboration between Positive Materials, Petratex, PDS Ventures, BioFluff and Ponda, which debuted at Première Vision in Paris. The collaboration’s capsule collection contained six garments made with these innovative materials, including Ponda’s BioPuff plant-based down alternative, used as wadding in a faux leather jacket.
Albin Vikström and Pierre Westerholm, Beckmans College of Design students, also utilized BioPuff as wadding for the Fashion Collaboration Show. And animal-free outerwear brand Save the Duck dropped a unisex bomber jacket made with its proprietary Plumtech wadding.
Meanwhile, Japanese brand United Arrows released two sweaters made from Spiber’s Brewed Protein in January.
This article ran in SJ’s Material Innovation Report. To download the full report, click here.