How is mushroom fabric made?

Instead of extracting material from land, Mycelium is very easy to grow in the lab and it can be easily replenished. It takes a period of around 2 to 4 weeks for Mycelium to grow fully. The process of producing mushroom fabric starts with selecting and moisturizing the substrate which is the material used to grow mushrooms. Some of the most common substrates are wood chips, straw, corn, and any other material which can provide food for the mushroom to grow.

After dampening these substrates are put in different small bags and are pasteurized. The process of pasteurizing acts in the same way it acts for preserving the milk i.e to kill any types of bacteria which could harm the growth of mushrooms. This process helps the mushrooms to grow in a much faster way. These are inserted into bags after the mycelium spawns. After this, it takes very little time and attention for the mycelium to produce the fabric. Through the growing process, the quality of fabric depends on a variety of factors like the type of mushroom used, type of substrate used, sunlight amount, humidity, ventilation etc.

After the mycelium grows into the desired size, it is completely extracted from the bag and then compressed to form the fabric of a particular size and shape. After this colonisation of the compound is one by the fungi. The texture and color of the mushroom can be changed during this compression process to produce the feel of real leather like python leather or crocodile leather. The raw material is extracted from a popular fungi which is grown in Asia for its teas and natural remedies. This mushroom is called Ganoderma lucidum, also known as the reishi mushroom. The reason for selecting this particular mushroom is because of its skin-friendly properties. And the last process is to dry the fabric and use it to make different products. Except for this way, there are a lot of processes to produce mushroom fabric.