AGI Denim and Ecovative Feed Fungi Used Jeans in Recycling Collaboration
The denim industry is constantly striving for more circular systems. Often, discarded jeans are shredded to become new denim textiles, but a new partnership between AGI Denim and Ecovative uses the magic of mushrooms to turn used denim into a material for architecture and interiors.
Ecovative specializes in using mycelium—the root-like structure of fungi that contain branches, or hyphae that collect and distribute nutrients to the mushrooms—to create materials for a range of sectors, including food, packaging and fashion. Under the Forager segment of its business, the company creates mycelium-based foams and leather alternatives.
While Ecovative has solutions for the fashion industry, it’s also turning used post-consumer denim into mycelium food. With AGI, the material innovation firm identified the right strain of fungi and conditions for mycelium to grow and feast on a feed that included denim. The resulting composite can be molded into different shapes and cemented together with the mycelium, allowing it to be used for architectural and interior design projects.
As a first mold or shape, the collaborators debuted recycled denim bricks. With different levels of denim added to the feed, they were able to create varying shades of brick, with denser denim inputs yielding darker mycelium materials.
As part of the partnership, The Agency by AGI Denim created padded denim garments with Forager Foam, which is breathable, water repellant, fire resistant and insulative. The collection was presented alongside the bricks at Kingpins New York in July in an installation within the innovation area The Boxes. Visitors were invited to touch and explore the garments and bricks to consider what new possibilities are available with denim and mushrooms.
“I have always had a fascination with fungi and their role as decomposers in nature,” said Henry Wong, vice president of product development and marketing at AGI Denim. “The potential application in solving the large-scale challenges we face as humans is so exciting. We are fortunate for this opportunity to work with such an innovative company like Ecovative to explore how their technologies can inspire the denim world.”