Design Life-Cycle

 Cady Schwietzer

Cogdell

DES 040A

May 28, 2024

Materials Assessment: Hermes Mycelium Bag

“Mycelium is an aspect of the world that has been present for millions of years, It binds together everything that’s organic that we know about.” says MycoWorks co-founder Phil Ross (MycoWorks, 2024). Hermes has begun working with MycoWorks, a revolutionary company, to create an environmentally friendly leather alternative. Together, these companies designed a mycelium bag that utilizes fungi technology to replace the leather commonly used by Hermes. The materials of the Hermes mycelium bag offer a unique take on sustainable luxury. Made from the root-like structure of a fungus, mycelium is designed to be a sustainable leather alternative. The raw materials of the Hermes bag, mycelium and calf skin, offer a unique material assessment for the product. This essay investigates the materials used in the Hermes mycelium bag at six stages: raw material procurement, manufacturing processing and formulation, distribution and transportation, use/re-use/maintenance, recycling, and waste management. It emphasizes the sustainable and environmentally friendly sourcing of mycelium, its durability and versatility as a leather alternative, and criticizes the usage of calfskin for the handle, emphasizing both advancements and areas for improvement in sustainable luxury fashion.

In a combination of the first two steps—raw material acquisition and manufacturing processing and formulation I will examine how MycoWorks produces and grows their mycelium. MycoWorks opened their first 136,000 square foot commercial scale mycelium harvesting plant in September 2023 (MycoWorks, 2024). The company briefly explains how the process is started in a YouTube video, stating, “The process begins by blending a mixture of recycled sawdust and other natural ingredients to create the substrate” (MycoWorks, 2024). While this is a slightly vague explanation, the specific technology and materials used by MycoWorks are likely kept secret to prevent others from attempting to replicate their product. The video goes on to explain that fungal spawn is then added to the mixture to trigger the growth of mycelium. While MycoWorks does not explain what exactly “fungal spawn” is, Penn State’s Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology published their lab procedures for creating the basis of mycelium fungal spawn, which is likely like MycoWork’s. Their website states, “In the spawn-production process, mycelium from a mushroom culture is placed onto steam-sterilized grain, and in time, the mycelium completely grows through the grain. This grain/mycelium mixture is called spawn, and spawn is used to "seed" mushroom compost” (Pennsylvania State University, 2024). After the sawdust is covered in the fungal spawn, a small amount of water is added to the mixture to aid in the culture's growth. Interestingly, if partner companies have specific aesthetic or textural requests, MycoWorks can incorporate other natural textiles into the mixture. Some of these include cotton or silk. After this process, a fine layer of mycelium leather will grow over the substrate. As the handle of the bag is made from calf skin, it is important to consider the raw materials needed for calf skin leather. Since the leather is from a living organism, the cow will require food, water as its main raw materials. This mycelium and calf skin are then harvested and transported to another factory known as the tannery.

This is where the third stage of the material assessment begins, distribution and transportation. As mentioned earlier, MycoWorks opened their first 136,000 square foot commercial scale mycelium harvesting plant in September 2023. This harvesting plant is located in Emeryville, California. MycoWorks website states that while the product is grown in California, it is tanned by their tannery partners in Europe. Their primary partner in the tanning process seems to be Curtidos Badia, a company based in Spain that has been a top tannery for luxury leather for over four generations. The shipment process from California requires a lot of fossil fuels, making this process costly for the environment. Furthermore, the shipments must also require packaging which is likely to be secondary materials such as cardboard, paper and polyester for the shipping labels and polypropylene for the shipping tape. While Curtidos Badia states they are committed to following environmental protocol, they do not specify how they do this. Moreover, their website has a page titled Environmental Audits, however, the only information provided is text reading, “Curtidos Badia’s processes comply with international protocols for promoting sustainable practices and environmental respect.”. It would be beneficial for Curtidos Badia to provide more detailed information on their specific environmental practices and initiatives to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. Additionally, transparency in their environmental audits would help build trust with consumers, who are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of the products they purchase. Curtidos Badia is also more secretive about what products they use to treat the mycelium leather and calf skin. Because Curtidos Badia is less transparent about the materials used in their tanning process, this step of the investigation is less complete than the others.

After the product is shipped to its destination, how is it used, reused, maintained, or recycled? Purses are more sustainable than other clothing items, as they are typically used for longer periods of time and can be easily repaired or repurposed. Additionally, the durability of mycelium leather and calf skin leather ensures that the purse will last for many years, reducing the need for frequent replacements and ultimately decreasing waste in the fashion industry. If the mycelium bag is damaged, Hermes offers repairs. Their website states, "Changing a bag zipper, mending the seams of a purse, re-dying men’s shoes, or widening a horsewoman’s boots… Our craftspeople have the leather expertise to pamper your favorite pieces." (Hermes, 2024). The repair services help to extend the lifespan of their products and promote sustainability in the fashion industry. By offering repair services, Hermes encourages customers to invest in high-quality pieces that can be maintained and enjoyed for years to come. This commitment to longevity aligns with the growing trend towards sustainable fashion practices.  While this is promising, it does seem that Hermes only offers this service for the first two years after the product is bought. It would be beneficial for Hermes to consider extending this repair service beyond the initial two-year period to further support sustainability efforts. This leads us to our final step, waste management.

After the product is deemed unusable by its owner, it is likely that the owner will send it to the landfill. Here, the product has used the majority of its raw materials. The process of decomposition will require time. Starting with the mycelium leather, which is naturally biodegradable, the soil will aid in the breaking down of materials and returning nutrients back into the ecosystem. Water could potentially be helpful in speeding up this process. The water will help break down the materials further and promote microbial activity. Finally, calf skin leather is comparable to its counterpart, cow hide leather. Cowhide leather is thicker and more durable than calf skin. Calf skin is thinner and more susceptible to water, which means it will biodegrade faster. This makes it a slightly better choice from an environmental standpoint. Overall, choosing mycelium leather or calf skin leather over cow hide leather can have a positive impact on the environment due to their biodegradability and faster decomposition rate. However, it would have been more sustainable to use solely mycelium based leather for the entirety of the bag.

Though there is still room for development, the Hermes mycelium bag is a huge step towards sustainable luxury goods when taking into account all six steps and the raw ingredients. Innovative utilization of mycelium by MycoWorks highlights eco-friendly production practices from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing processing, offering a viable substitute for conventional leather. The partnership between MycoWorks and Hermes demonstrates how upscale fashion labels have the ability to embrace more environmentally friendly procedures. Growing from a mixture of fungal spawn and repurposed sawdust, mycelium provides a unique, renewable, and biodegradable solution for the luxury market. Nonetheless, even though calfskin is biodegradable, its continuous use indicates that sustainability efforts might still be strengthened. In addition to posing ethical questions, the use of materials produced from animals necessitates resource-intensive procedures that have an adverse effect on the environment. The environmental costs are further highlighted by the distribution and transportation operations, which use a lot of fossil fuels to convey ingredients from California to tanning partners in Europe. Curtidos Badia's lack of transparency about their environmental policies is another indication that the supply chain needs to be more accountable and transparent.

Keeping Hermes' repair services open for longer than the first two years might improve the product's lifespan and cut down on waste. Encouraging clients to preserve and treasure their belongings by providing lifetime repair services would be consistent with the ideas of sustainable consumerism. More extensive recycling initiatives might also be put in place to guarantee that the product's materials are treated ethically even after it has reached the end of its useful life. In the end, even though the mycelium bag is a great step in the right direction, a full transition to sustainable materials and more open, eco-friendly procedures at every level of manufacturing and disposal would establish this project as a benchmark for the sector. Hermes has the potential to become a leader in the transformation of luxury fashion into an environmentally conscious and innovative industry by embracing sustainable materials like mycelium and improving the transparency and sustainability of their processes.

Works Cited

Amobonye, Ayodeji, et al. “Fungal Mycelium as Leather Alternative: A Sustainable Biogenic Material for the Fashion Industry.” Sustainable Materials and Technologies, vol. 38, Dec. 2023, doi:10.1016/j.susmat.2023.e00724. 

Hahn, Jennifer. “Hermès Creates Mycelium Version of Its Classic Leather Victoria Bag.” Dezeen, 9 July 2021, www.dezeen.com/2021/03/18/hermes-mycelium-leather-victoria-bag-mycoworks/. Accessed 29 May 2024. 

“How We Grow ReishiTM | Mycoworks Fine MyceliumTM Technology for Premium Non-Animal Materials.” YouTube, 20 Feb. 2024, www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=GCE6uuHegF8&t=0. Accessed 30 May 2024. 

“Maintenance and Repair.” Maintenance & Repair, www.hermes.com/us/en/content/326386-maintenance-repair. Accessed 31 May 2024. 

MycoWorks. “An Advanced Materials Platform.” MycoWorks, 24 May 2022, www.mycoworks.com/fine-mycelium-an-advanced-materials-platform. Accessed 29 May 2024. 

MycoWorks. “MycoWorks to Open World’s First Commercial-Scale Fine MyceliumTM Plant in September.” MycoWorks, 2 Apr. 2024, www.mycoworks.com/mycoworks-to-open-worlds-first-commercial-scale-fine-mycelium-plant-in-september. Accessed 30 May 2024. 

MycoWorks. “The Making of Fine MyceliumTM.” MycoWorks, 19 Mar. 2024, www.mycoworks.com/the-making-of-fine-mycelium. Accessed 30 May 2024. 

“Our Fine MyceliumTM Materials.” MycoWorks, 6 Apr. 2024, www.mycoworks.com/materials. Accessed 30 May 2024. 

Raman, Jegadeesh, et al. “Mycofabrication of Mycelium-Based Leather from Brown-Rot Fungi.” Journal of Fungi, vol. 8, no. 3, 19 Mar. 2022, p. 317, doi:10.3390/jof8030317. 

Raman, Jegadeesh, et al. “Mycofabrication of Mycelium-Based Leather from Brown-Rot Fungi.” Journal of Fungi, vol. 8, no. 3, 19 Mar. 2022, p. 317, doi:10.3390/jof8030317. 

“Spawn Preparation.” Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, plantpath.psu.edu/about/facilities/mushroom/cultures-spawn/spawn-preparation#:~:text=In%20the%20spawn%2Dproduction%20process,to%20%22seed%22%20mushroom%20compost. Accessed 30 May 2024. 

Vandelook, Simon, et al. “Current State and Future Prospects of Pure Mycelium Materials.” Fungal Biology and Biotechnology, vol. 8, no. 1, Dec. 2021, doi:10.1186/s40694-021-00128-1. 

Waltz, Emily, and Nature Biotechnology. “This Mushroom Leather Is Being Made into Hermès Handbags.” Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2024, www.scientificamerican.com/article/this-mushroom-leather-is-being-made-into-hermes-handbags/. Accessed 29 May 2024. 

Emily Ruiz 

DES 040A

Professor Christina Cogdell

5 June 2024 

Waste in the life cycle of the Hermes Mycelium Bag 

In fashion History, there has been a long time trend of the glorification of different handbags. They have evolved throughout the years and stayed consistent in being one of the main fashion essentials to carry different items.  As fashion trends are constantly changing with the season, so are handbags causing people to go out with the old and in with the new latest handbag. With The change of season comes a lot of waste as people are throwing out their old bags and new bags are being made that are contributing to the fashion/textile waste pile that already exists. About 92m tons of textile waste are produced annually and have been consistently increasing each year (Ruiz). To help with this issue, Hermes has come out with a new bag made of mycelium that is compostable and natural so less waste is produced throughout its life cycle. Mycelium is a natural leather that is made from mushroom material. At the end of its life cycle, Mycelium degrades into the soil rather than contributing to landfills that do not benefit the environment (Kumari, 4). This paper will follow the life cycle of the Hermes Mycelium bag and how much waste it produces in the environment. By using the more environmentally friendly material Mycelium for their handbags, Hermès strives to minimize the amount of waste they produce when making their new handbags.

Many different parts go into making a handbag therefore resulting in there being different opportunities for waste throughout its life cycle. Looking more into the early stages of its life cycle, the Hermes bag requires the acquisition of raw materials through naturally growing fungus through a process of growing it naturally in bio retractors which are essentially petri dishes on a larger scale that allow for the growth of this fungus within it(Graham). In this case, there are not many fossil fuels that are emitted through the growth of the fungi as it is just done within a natural process. Through growing the fungi that create mycelium, there are mainly natural chemicals and elements that are used to compose the mycelium fermenting process which means that there is not much waste in the process of growing the mycelium (Haynes). Most of the work of growing the fungi is done naturally which would eliminate the waste of using machinery that uses fossil fuels to be powered. The process of growing fungi is already a naturally occurring environmental process that happens without humans interacting with it. In this case, it is being manufactured by humans but only to a certain extent as humans set up the process to be done on its own. As there has to be the deliberate mixing of these chemicals to make the fungi, there is not much of a need for machinery to produce the raw materials or to gather them together. The acquisition of regular leather contributes to waste as it requires a lot of water and the slaughtering of animals to get its raw materials. Looking more at the raw material acquisition of mycelium, it does not contribute to much waste as it is all done naturally after the setup of needed materials that create mycelium. 

After growing the fungi/mushrooms that create mycelium, there is more to its life cycle process that then has to make it into the leather. Typically, when looking at the leather industry, it is one of the biggest contributors of waste to the environment in the realm of carbon emitters (DW News). Many different factors play into their production that create more waste within themselves. For one, it is very toxic to both humans and the environment since it produces different chemicals while it is being made. These emissions add to the different fossil fuels that go into the earth's atmosphere. The alternative of mycelium does not continue to waste as much as handbags. Once the fungi are grown, there are tiny threads that are produced from them (Williams, 5). These tiny threads are then fused by applying much pressure to them over long periods(Williams, 5). When putting pressure on these tiny threads, they eventually mingle together into one solid material. This material has a thicker texture to it that is almost alike and comparable to foam. This foam is pressed and flattened out my hand to create a thinner material which is mycelium leather. In the brand, Mylo, this entire process is done manually by workers rather than by machines. In turn, this translates to no machines being used that would emit different fossil fuels. As the fungi are growing and fusing, they still need to be fed more to get this process done. The brand Mylo feeds the fungi, the natural resource of sawdust. In the process of getting the dust, there is a machine that is used to wear down the dust from the wood which does require machinery that gets its power from nonrenewable sources. The next step when making the bag itself, since the leather still has to be cut and measured, all of it is done by hand. The cutting, measuring, and sewing of the bag. Especially given that Mycelium is still a growing industry and needs to be handled with care, the Hermes bag is made by hand rather than by powered machines. Compared to the typical manufacturing process part of the life cycle of leather, mycelium leather does not emit as much waste as far as emissions from machinery are concerned. 

As the bag moves through its life cycles, during and after its manufacturing process, it is moved from location to location for a variety of reasons before it can get to its owner. The brand that manufactures mycelium leather is called Mycroworks which is based in the United States. There are a couple of their offices and labs within the United States where the leather is manufactured.  As Hermes is a brand that is known for the quality of the bags being very high status and durable, it goes through Hermes expert tanners to ensure the mycelium leather is up to par. From Mycro's works, the bag is then transported over to France for it to be tested even further and eventually made into the actual handbag. (Zabel) Once the bag is made, it is then shipped out to the people who purchased the bag.​​ The bag is bought all over the world by different people which in turn has to be shipped out to people. Looking at the waste from the transportation point of the bag from location to location, there is both waste in the transportation and packing. The transportation of the bag requires many fossil fuels that are wasted as it is flown to different counties and transported in some type of vehicle once it lands within whichever country it ends up in. Additionally, the bag has to be packaged each time it is transported to a new location contributing to the waste of packing such as cardboard, packaging peanuts, etc. Although up until now the life cycles of the Hermes Mycelium leather bag have not been much of a waste contributor, it still contributes quite a bit to waste of emission in the transportation process, especially as it has to be transported in a minute between two different countries. 

When it comes to the bag itself, it is a bigger handbag and is advertised as a travel bag since it has more room to have more storage. Hermes bags are made of high quality which are meant to last longer than other bags as it is curated very carefully of the best material. Its durability is made to ensure consumers get the most out of their bags. Hermes takes pride in the fact that their bags are made from only the biggest and finest quality materials and crafted very carefully. Because of this, most people who get the Hermes bag make more of an investment in the bag knowing that the bag will last them for long periods. In this case, there are not many Hermes bags being used as single-use bags. Most of the time, to eliminate waste of these bags, if they are still in somewhat decent condition, bags will get donated and repurposed by a new owner. If the bag is not donated, sometimes people will want to make some of their money back as well since the bag is very costly. If this is the case, some people will resale their bags at a knockdown price rather than throwing them out and contributing to the fashion/textile waste pile. Additionally, if the bag is thrown out, it is not very often as most people only get a new travel bag about two times in their lifetime (Burg). All in all, when the bag is done being used by its owner, no waste is emitted as the bag is sometimes either donated, or repurposed to a new owner.

As mentioned above, once a consumer feels as though their time with their bag is up or they are ready for a new bag, they will most often recycle the bag through donation or selling the bag. The life cycle of mycelium leather works in the form of a loop cycle. (Varkki) As the bag is made from different raw materials and waste, when it is thrown out, the same materials can be used again to create new and/or more mycelium bags.  If the bag is ever thrown out in general, the materials made with it are environmentally friendly so there not be much waste contributing to landfills. If anything, the bags help the environment by helping retire some plants that are fungi. Since the bag is biodegradable, the bag gets broken down into its natural state of raw and reused materials that do not harm the environment. Rather than bring more waste to the environment, the breaking down of the bag has quite the opposite effect. It helps restore nutrients to the natural environment and allows it to help make plants grow. This makes the life cycles of the mycelium bag come to a full circle that can be restated again without contributing to the waste that already exists from fashion and textiles (Kumari, 4). 

The Hermes mycelium bag had a life cycle that did not consist of too much waste. The travel handbag is made of a sustainable leather material called mycelium leather which is made from natural by-products. It had reusable, compostable material in it that is human manufacturers rather than manufactured by machines that typically contribute quite a bit to the waste of emissions. Compared to the traditional leather production and life cycle, mycelium requires less water and no animals at all. The bag is also made from high-end materials that ensure it lasts a long while so that way it does not become a single-use waste bag. Even when it comes to the end of its life cycle, the bag just goes back to its original status. It becomes compost once again and can be this allows for the waste to be cut significantly. Rather than ending up in landfills, it helps the environment by contributing to it positively. By using the more environmentally friendly material Mycelium for their handbags, Hermès strives to minimize the amount of waste they produce when making their new handbags.

Bibliography: 

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Reishi™: the first low-carbon and biodegradable alternative leather. Environ 

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