Sqim won the 2023 Andam Innovation Award. The Italian biotech company specializes in materials made from pure mycelium, the root structure of fungi.
Sqim is the first biotech company to cultivate mycelium on a pure basis, ANDAM said in a statement Wednesday. It uses a process that eliminates contaminating chemicals during the growth process and guarantees consistent quality.
The innovative Ephea material is described as the “most organic, practical and environmentally friendly alternative to leather and synthetics” for use in luxury fashion products. Ephea is made from pure mycelium, consumes minimal resources and emits low levels of carbon dioxide as the mycelium grows on low-grade agro-industrial feedstock.
Ephea made his commercial fashion debut during the Balenciaga Fall/Winter 2022 runway as a maxi hooded coat.
recycling and traceability
“This year’s selection demonstrated how central biotechnology, recycling and traceability are to innovation and scientific research,” said Nathalie Dufour, founder and CEO of Andam.
The innovation award was created in 2017 to promote technological innovations that help transform and reinvent the fashion industry. It is open to all French and international entrepreneurs and start-ups willing to develop their project in France.
Projects must provide innovative and technological solutions for the fashion industry in the fields of biotechnology, new materials, production, distribution and circular economy.
The other two finalists this year were: Idelam, a company developing an innovative process that uses CO2 to cleanly and quickly separate bonded materials. Then they can be properly recycled, solving the problem of recycling complex multi-material wastes that are otherwise not currently recycled. Materra uses natural fibers to bring about systemic environmental and social change, starting with cotton, by developing an artificial intelligence traceability tool.
This translated post previously appeared on FashionUnited.uk.