Paper short abstract:

For uncertain customers fungi hold promise as a raw material for a polluting garment industry. It is difficult to establish to what extend they fulfill expectations. Practical knowledge is being collected by crafting with fungi to understand their performance for clothes in a variety of ways.

Paper long abstract:

Ever more apparent unsustainable and unethical effects of the garment industry place consumers in the dilemma of their interest in consumption conflicting with responsible action. One of the ways to console these are new materials for production, e.g. made from fungi. Fungi are being imbued with almost mythical attributes as a beneficial organism with transformative powers in many narratives – including ones from the fashion industry. Products are being promoted as if they were already widely available. However, the physical materials raise some doubt as to their market readiness and/or their overall sustainable effect. For this paper, I will analyse the materials, the narrative, but also refer to an experimental fungus growing lab, I have set up. Here, fungi are used in a variety of ways to grow into or out of clothes. The leading questions for the crafting experiment are: In which way do these fungi inform aesthetics, function and meaning of the garments? The aim is to learn about the distance between these fungi as raw natural material and the fungi used in garments.