Mushroom Biotechnology
70% lower carbon
Mycelium composites carry 70% lower embodied carbon than conventional foam and insulation materials, and they're already in Dell computer packaging, Hermès bags, and building panels used across Europe.
Camilleri et al., Biotechnology Advances, 2025
0.036–0.06 W/m·K
thermal conductivity, comparable to mineral wool insulation
$90.83B
projected global mycelium materials market by 2032
Biodegradable
mycelium composites decompose in weeks; polystyrene persists for centuries
Camilleri et al., Biotechnology Advances, 2025
View as image ↗The mycelium in a lion's mane supplement capsule and the foam protecting a Dell laptop have something in common: they might both be fungal mycelium. Ecovative Design began shipping computer packaging made from mushroom mycelium grown on agricultural waste in 2010. Dell adopted it. IKEA ordered millions of units. The same biology that makes mushrooms medicinally interesting, the ability of fungal mycelium to bind, transform, and colonize organic matter, turns out to make it an excellent structural material.
This connection between mushroom health science and materials technology is almost entirely unrecognized by people who take mushroom supplements. The global mycelium materials market, currently around $13.83 billion, is projected to reach $90.83 billion by 2032. The same fungal network that produces the beta-glucans in a turkey tail supplement is being engineered into packaging, leather, and building insulation that could transform multiple industries.
This article covers what mycelium-based materials are, how they're made, where they're already deployed, and why the underlying science matters. For the broader story of how mushroom biotechnology is changing supplement production, see the mushroom industry guide and our coverage of precision fermentation for mushroom compounds.
Key Takeaways
- Mycelium composites are made by growing fungal mycelium on agricultural waste substrates (hemp, corn stalks, sawdust); the mycelium binds the substrate into a dense, shapeable material as it colonizes
- Camilleri et al.'s 2025 comprehensive review documented thermal conductivity of 0.036 to 0.06 W/m·K, comparable to mineral wool, and 70% lower embodied carbon compared to conventional building and packaging materials
- Ecovative Design (Dell packaging, IKEA shipping materials), Bolt Threads (Mylo leather used by Stella McCartney and Adidas), MycoWorks (Reishi leather used by Hermès), and MOGU (construction panels) are the main commercial examples
- Alemu et al.'s 2022 review documented that mycelium composites achieve compressive strength and thermal insulation comparable to expanded polystyrene foam, with full biodegradability
- The mycelium materials market is projected to grow from $13.83 billion in 2024 to $90.83 billion by 2032, a compound annual growth rate of around 26%
- The science behind both applications is the same: fungal mycelium's capacity to form dense, fibrous networks that bind and structurally reinforce organic substrates
What Mycelium-Based Materials Are, and How They're Made
Most people understand mycelium as the underground root network of a mushroom. In nature, mycelium extends through soil or wood, secreting enzymes that break down organic matter and absorbing nutrients. The mushroom we see above ground is the fruiting body, the reproductive structure. Mycelium is the organism itself.
What materials scientists discovered is that this same fibrous network, when grown on a controlled substrate and then killed (usually by drying or heat treatment), leaves behind a stable, three-dimensional composite. The mycelium has physically bound the substrate particles together, creating a material with structural properties.
The production process is straightforward in concept. Agricultural waste (hemp hurds, corn stalks, sawdust, wheat straw) is sterilized to eliminate competing organisms, then inoculated with a selected fungal strain. The mycelium colonizes the substrate over 5 to 14 days at controlled temperature and humidity. When colonization reaches the desired density, the material is dried and heat-treated to stop growth. The result is a rigid composite that holds the shape of whatever mold it was grown in.
Alemu et al.'s 2022 review in the International Journal of Biomaterials documented the key physical properties of these composites:[1] compressive strength comparable to expanded polystyrene foam; thermal insulation values in the same range as conventional packaging and building insulation; and complete biodegradability. A mycelium composite can be composted and will break down in weeks. A polystyrene equivalent persists in landfill for centuries.
The specific mechanical properties depend on three variables: the fungal species used, the substrate composition, and the growth duration. Longer colonization produces denser, more compressive-resistant material. Different species produce mycelium with different fiber density and branching patterns. The substrate determines the raw material characteristics. This tunability is what makes mycelium composites attractive for engineering applications.
Packaging: How Mycelium Replaced Polystyrene for Dell and IKEA
The packaging application was the first to reach commercial scale, and it remains the most widespread use of mycelium materials.
Ecovative Design, founded in 2007 by two Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute students, built the first commercial mycelium packaging manufacturing process. The product is grown in custom molds designed to replace the polystyrene shapes that protect electronics, furniture, and fragile goods during shipping. Dell Computers used Ecovative packaging for its servers. IKEA announced a plan to replace all polystyrene packaging with mycelium alternatives.
The value proposition is direct: mycelium packaging is grown, not manufactured. No petroleum inputs. No energy-intensive molding. No recycling infrastructure required at end of life: it goes in the compost bin. The material requires no adhesives or chemical binders because the mycelium produces its own binding as it grows.
The technical specifications that make it viable are detailed in Camilleri et al.'s 2025 review:[2] the embodied carbon of mycelium composites is approximately 70% lower than equivalent conventional materials. Energy consumption during production is substantially lower than polystyrene foam manufacturing. The composites meet fire safety standards required for building materials and electronics packaging.
Packaging is also where the material's limitations are most apparent. Moisture resistance requires surface treatment. Load-bearing capacity under sustained weight is lower than rigid plastic alternatives. And production at mass scale requires significant agricultural waste supply chains and controlled-environment facilities. Ecovative has scaled to millions of units annually, but mycelium packaging remains more expensive per unit than polystyrene at comparable volumes.
Leather Alternatives: Stella McCartney, Adidas, and Hermès
The leather application is where mycelium materials have attracted the most consumer attention, because the end products are recognizable and luxury.
Bolt Threads, a California materials company, developed a product called Mylo using mycelium grown on agricultural waste. The resulting material has the visual and tactile properties of leather: flexible, workable, and aesthetically distinctive. Stella McCartney used Mylo for a collection. Adidas produced a limited run of Stan Smith sneakers with Mylo uppers.
MycoWorks, founded by a different team, developed their own mycelium material under the name Reishi (the same name as the medicinal mushroom, reflecting the Ganoderma species they work with). Hermès, the French luxury goods house, announced a partnership with MycoWorks and used Reishi to make a Victoria bag released in 2021.
These are not conceptual prototypes. They are manufactured goods purchased by consumers. The luxury fashion industry's adoption reflects both consumer demand for sustainable alternatives and the genuine material performance of well-made mycelium composites.
The underlying science behind mycelium leather involves a different production approach than rigid composites. Rather than colonizing loose substrate particles to create a foam-like material, leather alternatives require thin, dense mycelium sheets with specific tensile strength and elongation properties. The production parameters, fungal strain selection, and post-processing methods differ considerably from packaging composites, though the fundamental biology is the same.
Camilleri et al.'s 2025 comprehensive overview covers this bifurcation in the materials science:[2] rigid composites (packaging, insulation) and flexible composites (leather alternatives, textiles) represent two distinct branches of mycelium materials engineering, with different optimization targets and production processes.
Construction: Insulation Panels That Biodegrade When the Building Comes Down
The construction application is the least consumer-visible but potentially the largest by volume.
Building insulation is currently dominated by mineral wool, fiberglass, and polystyrene foam. These materials are energy-intensive to produce, difficult to recycle, and persist in landfill. A building's insulation represents a significant portion of its lifetime carbon footprint when accounting for embodied carbon in the materials themselves.
MOGU, an Italian company, produces mycelium composite panels for building insulation and acoustic flooring. Their products have been used in commercial buildings across Europe. The panels achieve the thermal performance required by building codes in multiple countries, with the biodegradability and low embodied carbon that conventional insulation cannot match.
The thermal conductivity data from Camilleri et al.'s 2025 review establishes the technical baseline:[2] mycelium composites achieve thermal conductivity values of 0.036 to 0.06 W/m·K, which places them in the same performance range as mineral wool (typically 0.035 to 0.045 W/m·K). This is the key metric for building insulation: a lower number means better insulating performance.
At end of building life, mycelium insulation panels can be composted rather than sent to landfill. This is architecturally significant: buildings contain thousands of square meters of insulation that currently ends up in waste streams when structures are demolished or renovated. Compostable insulation represents a fundamental change to that equation.
The Science Behind the Strength: What the Research Documents
The mechanical properties of mycelium composites are not accidental. They emerge from specific aspects of fungal biology that researchers have been systematically characterizing.
Alemu et al.'s 2022 review documents the structural basis:[1] fungal cell walls contain chitin, the same structural polymer found in insect exoskeletons. Chitin provides tensile strength. Glucans provide the fibrous network structure. When mycelium colonizes a substrate and is then dried, the chitin-reinforced mycelium fibers form a continuous three-dimensional matrix throughout the composite, creating structural integrity analogous to fiber reinforcement in conventional engineered materials.
Camilleri et al.'s 2025 comprehensive overview confirms this at scale:[2] the density range of commercial mycelium composites (approximately 40 to 200 kg/m³) spans the range from lightweight packaging foam to medium-density insulation board. Compressive strength correlates with density, allowing engineers to select growth conditions that produce material matched to application requirements.
Hydrophobicity (water resistance) is one challenge. Natural mycelium is relatively hydrophilic: it evolved to thrive in moist environments. Commercial applications require surface treatment or strain engineering to produce adequate moisture resistance. This is an active area of materials research, with promising results from surface coatings and the selection of naturally more hydrophobic fungal species.
Fire performance is another. Mycelium composites are organic and combust under sufficient heat, like wood. However, Camilleri et al. note that mycelium's cell wall structure contributes char formation that limits flame spread, and most commercial applications achieve required fire safety ratings through combination of material selection and surface treatment.
From Supplement to Shipping Box: What This Means for Health-Focused Readers
Most people who read about medicinal mushrooms are interested in what the fungi can do inside the body. The materials story reveals what they can do outside it, and the underlying biology connects both applications.
The beta-glucan in a turkey tail extract and the chitin in a mycelium insulation panel are both products of the same cellular machinery. A mushroom produces these compounds because they're structurally essential to its survival: the cell wall must be both strong and chemically active. The same structural properties that make chitin and glucan useful pharmacologically make them useful materially.
The supplement industry and the materials industry are drawing on the same biological resource. The question of whether to extract bioactive compounds for supplements or grow mycelium composites for packaging is, at the level of fungal biology, the same question about optimizing the same organism for different outputs.
This convergence has one practical implication worth noting: the same agricultural waste streams that supply mycelium materials manufacturers supply mushroom extract producers. As both industries scale, they're competing for the same substrate supply chains. The growth of the mycelium materials market affects the economics of mushroom supplement production, and vice versa.
For more on how mushroom biotechnology is transforming both industries, see Mushroom Biotechnology: Scaling Production of Bioactive Compounds and Lab-Grown Mushroom Extracts: Can Fermentation Replace Farming?. The mycelium underlying both stories is the same organism.
For context on the broader mushroom industry, see Do Fruiting Bodies Have More Bioactive Compounds Than Mycelium?, which covers the bioactive comparison that's relevant to anyone buying mushroom supplements.
The Bottom Line
Mycelium-based materials use fungal mycelium grown on agricultural waste to create structural composites with 70% lower embodied carbon than conventional alternatives, thermal conductivity comparable to mineral wool, and complete biodegradability. Commercial applications include packaging (Ecovative for Dell and IKEA), leather alternatives (Bolt Threads' Mylo for Adidas and Stella McCartney; MycoWorks' Reishi for Hermès), and building insulation (MOGU). The underlying biology connects directly to medicinal mushroom health research: chitin and glucan, the structural compounds that give mycelium its material properties, are the same compounds studied for their bioactive effects in supplements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources & References
- 1. Source details for this reference are not yet available.
- 2. Source details for this reference are not yet available.