Bolt Threads reportedly pulls plug on Stella McCartney-backed Mylo

American firm Bolt Threads is understood to have halted the production of its mycelium-based leather alternative Mylo, a material that has been used by the likes of Stella McCartney, Adidas and Kering.

The production was paused after the company was unable to secure financing in order to scale up, Bolt Threads chief executive Dan Widmaier told Vogue Business.

Widmaier added that following Mylo’s initial launch in 2018, Mylo was “devastatingly close” to commercial scale but was ultimately brought to standstill due to inflation and the lack of funding opportunities.

He noted that the material’s production had been “paused” as it looks to “reassess what works and what will work in the future”.

It was further highlighted that while there was still an emphasis on moving towards leather alternatives, investors had increasingly been turning their attention to newer, fast-moving sectors, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Mylo has been a popular addition to the collections of notable brands, having previously been used as the base material for a luxury bag by Stella McCartney, products by Ganni and for Lululemon accessories.

Despite many brands seemingly favouring the mushroom-based material, Bolt Threads is operating in a field that is becoming increasingly competitive when it comes to pinning down investments.

While the newly formed Arda Biomaterials secured a 1.1 million pounds funding injection in June to support the development of its leather made from beer waste, last year start-up VitroLabs raised 46 million dollars to build and scale cell-cultivated leather alongside Kering and Bestseller.