Bottega Veneta is betting on mycelium. Earlier this month, the Kering-owned brand released a limited collection of small leather goods swapping the bovine leather in its signature intrecciato weave for Ephea, a mycelium-based alternative by Italian biomaterials startup Sqim. The pieces are part of the fall 2026 men’s collection by creative director Louise Trotter.
For Kering, the six-piece collection is a vote of confidence for alternative materials. The luxury group took part in Sqim’s Series A funding round in 2024 and Balenciaga sent a coat made from Ephea down its FW22 runway, but this is the first time Bottega Veneta has used it. The collaboration comes after Ephea was incubated by Kering’s Material Innovation Lab in Milan, which identifies, evolves, and helps to operationalize hundreds of alternative materials, with the hope of embedding them into brand collections.
Actually making this happen is a delicate process. It takes executive buy-in, winning over design teams, and sometimes years of research and development. On the first point, Kering released its 10-year impact report for the 2016-2025 period last week, after CEO Luca de Meo set a slew of targets as part of his turnaround plan for the beleaguered luxury group. Among them are several sustainability goals incentivizing Kering brands to adopt alternative materials like mycelium and to reduce the intensity of bovine leather products.
By 2035, de Meo wants 40% of Kering’s ready-to-wear offering to be made from alternative materials, and by 2028, he wants to see a 30% reduction in leather intensity compared to 2025. He is also pursuing a strong innovation agenda, aiming for 20% of revenue to be generated from innovation by 2035 — split evenly between material and process innovation, and new services and business models.
Bottega Veneta’s mycelium collection is a step in the right direction, says Kering chief sustainability and institutional affairs officer Marie-Claire Daveu. “The introduction of woven mycelium in Bottega Veneta’s collection is a compelling example of how material innovation can open new creative possibilities, while upholding the exceptional standards of quality, desirability, and savoir-faire that define luxury,” she explains. “Developing and adopting next-generation materials is an important part of Kering’s sustainability strategy, while eco-design is becoming an increasingly important consideration from the earliest stages of product development. We see innovation as a catalyst for reimagining luxury for the future. The next chapter of luxury will be defined not only by what products look like, but by how they are designed, sourced, and made.”
A win after false starts
In the early 2020s, mycelium-based alternatives to leather experienced something of a boom, attracting hundreds of millions in venture capital, boosted by glossy brand pilots and promises of commercial scale. Stella McCartney riffed on its signature Frayme bag with California material innovation startup Bolt Threads. Ganni followed, and even helped Bolt Threads launch the Greener Pastures Pledge, giving brands preferential access to its hero material — Mylo — if they vowed to phase out virgin leather. Then, in July 2021, former Hermès CEO Patrick Thomas joined the board of fellow Californian competitor Mycoworks, which released its first collaborative bag with Hermès later that year, and secured a $125 million cash injection shortly after. At the same time, Natural Fiber Welding inked partnerships with Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, MCM, and Alexander McQueen’s diffusion line MCQ to use its Mirum material.
