- Groundbreaking footwear design unites mycelium, bacterial nanocellulose, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), signalling a new era of nature-inspired manufacturing.
- Concept shoe debuts at the Future Fabrics Expo, London (24-25 June 2025), inviting industry-wide collaboration in sustainable innovation.
The Korvaa Consortium—a collaboration of biomaterial pioneers, creative designers, and filmmakers—has introduced the world’s first shoe formed from an unprecedented blend of mycelium, bacterial nanocellulose, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). This concept piece exemplifies how three leading biomaterial technologies can work together, echoing nature’s method of addressing complex design problems through carefully chosen, biologically derived materials.
Pushing beyond traditional manufacturing norms, the Korvaa project fuses science, design, and narrative to reimagine footwear production. Typically, shoes involve over 30 distinct, mostly synthetic materials derived from petrochemicals. In contrast, the Korvaa shoe uses just five materials, each picked for their specific properties and engineered to harmonise seamlessly.
The concept will be showcased at the Future Fabrics Expo in London on 24-25 June 2025, signalling an open invitation to the fashion and materials industries to collaborate on pioneering sustainable solutions.
Here is how each innovator contributed their technological expertise:
- The shoe’s upper was made by Modern Synthesis, a company leveraging material science to transform nanocellulose – a natural byproduct of fermentation – into functional and responsible textiles and coatings.
- The scaffold for the shoe’s base was 3D printed by Ourobio, a company developing Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a class of bio-based, biodegradable polyesters that replace petrochemical plastics.
- The shoe’s sole was grown in only 7 days by Ecovative, a company specialising in mycelium-based materials, using solid state fermentation to cultivate mycelium through the PHA scaffold.
- The shoe was constructed by industry-leading specialists in footwear design and manufacturing, using traditional string-lasting techniques. The laces and support lining are made from cotton and lyocell.
- The collaboration was documented by Photino Science Communications, a Finnish science communication company with a focus on synthetic biology, capturing the journey to educate and inspire wider industry adoption.
Jen Keane, CEO and co-founder of Modern Synthesis says, “By combining materials the way nature does – not by adding more, but by choosing better – we’re creating radical design possibilities for the industry. This unlocks unparalleled creative freedom, introducing novel functionalities and forms that simply couldn’t be achieved through conventional means. We’ve developed an artefact that is a tangible blueprint for the future of manufacturing.”
The project will be publicly showcased at the Future Fabrics Expo in London from June 24-25 in the Footwear Hub. The process of creating the shoe will also be shared with the public through a full-length documentary entitled “Planet of the Microbes”, which is expected to debut at a leading film festival later this year.
“This shoe demonstrates what becomes possible when three distinct biological processes work together,” says Ecovative co-founder and CEO Eben Bayer. “Each material was chosen for what it does best – and together they show that biology can manufacture complex products that traditionally require dozens of synthetic inputs. Collaboration like this is how we grow the material support system for a planet that works in harmony with humans.”
Nina Pulkkis, Documentary and Production Lead at Photino, adds, “The first step is developing the technology, the second step is getting the story out there. Documenting this project from the beginning reveals the immense potential that arises when we align nature’s intelligence with human innovation – this is the kind of collaboration that makes you want to be part of the change.”
The material innovators behind this breakthrough invite brands to connect, explore, and collaborate in co-creating the next generation of truly sustainable, functional, and future-fit products.
