As the chief executive of mycelium based leather alternative start-up MycoWorks, Matthew L. Scullin is at the forefront of innovators leading the charge towards a materials revolution in fashion.
Founded in 2013, the biomaterials company has developed a proprietary material called Reishi using mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms. With Scullin at the helm, it convinced luxury leather goods powerhouse Hermès to trial the material in an explosive collaboration announced in 2021. Though Hermès products containing the material had yet to make it to market by mid 2022, it remains a powerful signal of change from one of fashion’s most traditional players.
Prior to Mycoworks, Scullin founded Alphabet Energy, a start-up focused on generating electricity by absorbing waste heat from factory smokestacks or car exhaust. His ambitions in the fashion industry are no less dramatic, with Mycoworks among a fast-growing group of materials companies reaching industrial scale with products positioned as more environmentally friendly than conventional alternatives.
In January, MycoWorks raised $125 million in a Series C funding round aimed at helping finance a commercial-scale plant in South Carolina.
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