Forager™ Foam

id card

100% pure mushroom mycelium

composition

Chitin

building blocks

Organic

material origin

Sheet, Blocks

shape

9 – actual system proven in operational environment

TRL

Pure mycelium foam. Grown with Ecovative's AirMycelium™ technology, it's the power of mushroom mycelia tuned to its best - allowing them to produce a broad selection of biobased materials at a sustainable, commercial scale.

Their vertical farms utilize only the best substrates, attained from organic feedstock that once was a byproduct of agriculture and forestry processes, making up for a growth medium worthy the magical process their technology guides these nature's gems through.

Ecovative's extensive library of fungal strains makes it possible to customize these materials to any liking - fine-tuning and straining them into headstrong contesters in the world of alternative materials.

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Properties

Forager™ Foams are available in a variety of forms with extravagant, highly-performing qualities, from incredibly soft & thin, to extremely firm & dense - and everything in between. "Breathable, insulating, water-repellent, and naturally fire-resistant, Forager Foams are an open-cell, with no toxic chemicals and plastic used, and all that's left is a fully biodegradable compost that feeds natural systems, building soils and fostering true material circularity."

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Key advantages & properties of Ecovative's Forager™:

Extensive production volumes.

High melting temperature and low conductivity - making it perfectly suitable for a number of footwear applications.

Hydrophobic.

Cyclability

100% biobased, biodegradable raw material.

Fully compostable.

Reduced resource needs. No environmental tradeoff.

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APPLICATIONS

Applications span fashion, automotive, furniture, and even the food packaging industry.

FOOTWEAR APPLICATIONS

Cushioning

Foam

Production process

AirMycelium™ technology unleashes the amazing properties and behaviors of fungal fibers.

Ecovative’s proprietary AirMycelium™ vertical farms grow pure mycelium materials at industrial scale using byproducts from agriculture and forestry, such as hemp hurds - and feedstock too.

Forager™ Hides, for instance, grow over 60 meters long by 4 meters wide in just 6-9 days from seed to harvest. All thanks to climate controlled incubators! - also allowing the foam to be modulated into its own targeted purpose.

At last, Forager™ is supplied to fashion brands, and further, to tannery partners to tan it into leather using green chemistry techniques - or in the case of Forager™ Foam, to mold it and shape it according to their product's feel.

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Manufacturing facts

9 days. 12 ft3/cycle, scaling 4,560 to ft3

production time

Ecovative built it's own library, the Mycelium Foundry, a comprehensive fungal strain library for mycological material technology.

Drawing from their AirMycelium™ process, Ecovative truly meets all of the various clients' specific needs.

Some material strains are picked and chosen because they have to hold their form over time, even after sustained pressure or bending. Others need to hold color, or exhibit a specific texture. With millions of different species of fungi, come millions of possible materials with countless potential qualities. By selecting strains based on the specific funghi's properties, the researchers at Ecovative learn through trial and error in which conditions they grow best and if they are apt for commercial-scale.

Most of the mycelium composites and mycelium materials you read about are actually made under license from Ecovative (they have over 40 patents in 31 countries on the fundamental art of mycelium materials).

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