Mycelium materials developer presses pause on Mylo
05/07/2023
In recent comments to Vogue Business, Bolt Threads co-counder and chief executive, Dr Dan Widmaier, said: “We have paused Mylo to reassess what works and what will work in the future.” Asked if the production of Mylo could start up again in future, possibly following the sale of the technology to another group, he said all options were on the table.
However, he confirmed that Bolt Threads had been unable to raise enough funding to take its plans for the material forward, in spite of high-profile projects with brands including adidas, Kering, Lululemon and Stella McCartney.
In 2021, adidas created a version of its Stan Smith tennis shoe in Mylo. Searches on the brand’s e-commerce sites on July 3 this year indicated that the product was no longer commercially available.
Dr Widmaier’s comments to Vogue Business make it clear that Bolt Threads has been unable to raise enough investment to scale up production of Mylo. He said: “Scale-up is the most expensive and hardest part, and there are no shortcuts.” He said fundraising had been a challenge for all fashion start-ups for the last 18 months and said those who have been able to raise funding “mostly deal with artificial intelligence”.
Image: adidas.
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