In fashion: Biologically engineered luxury goods

As with most industries, sustainability has become a key focus for the fashion and luxury goods industry. In recent years, this has led to the adoption of new and innovative approaches to improve the environmental impact of fashion companies’ activities across the supply chain. To spearhead this development, an increasing number of fashion and luxury goods brands are collaborating with innovators in the engineering biology space (sometimes referred to as “synthetic biology” or “synbio”) in an effort to become more sustainable.

This article will look at examples of these collaborations in this exciting intersection of biology, technology and fashion, and highlight some of the key legal considerations, including the parties’ roles and obligations, liability and the protection and treatment of intellectual property.

Engineering biology in the fashion industry

Engineering biology, which is the engineering and design of biological systems to create and improve processes and products, offers methods to develop novel and sustainable materials and textiles. As a result, the fashion industry is one of the sectors in which engineering biology has the potential to make a huge impact, offering solutions to not only upgrade supply chains but also create entirely new products that are vegan, sustainable and often support a circular economy by using waste products. Early examples of materials created using engineering biology include spider silk and leather alternatives, with the latter gaining the most traction. This is mainly due to ethical and environmental concerns around leather production, for example in animal farming and leather treatment.

Synthetic leather (also known as “imitation leather” or “vegan leather”), which is currently the most common leather alternative, is made of polyurethane, a type of plastic, and therefore poses its own sustainability concerns. However, various leather substitutes produced using engineering biology offer promising solutions. 

Bacterial leather

Bacterial leather is, as the name suggests, a leather alternative produced using bacteria. The bacteria are grown to generate a cellulose membrane which forms the basis of a strong, flexible material. Danish fashion brand, Ganni has been working with various biotech companies to explore the use of bacterial leather in its collections. One of these companies is London-based Modern Synthesis with whom Ganni has created a new version of its iconic Bou Bag made from bacterial leather, which is expected to launch commercially in 2025.

Modern Synthesis presented at the SynbiTECH 2024 conference which took place in London on 3 and 4 December 2024. You can read more about the conference and use cases for engineering biology outside the fashion industry in this article by our colleague, Ellen Lambrix.

Ganni has also partnered with Polybion, a Mexican biotech developing premium biomaterials from fruit waste, to create a small collection using Celium™, Polybion’s bacterial leather made from bacterial cellulose through the fermentation of agro-industrial fruit waste. This collection, which also includes versions of the Bou Bag was showcased at Paris Fashion Week in September 2024.

Mycelium

Mycelium, the root network of fungi which forms a thread-like filament structure, has become another popular leather substitute (often called “mushroom leather”) and is used by numerous fashion and luxury brands. Mycelium is biodegradable and can be produced using fewer resources than animal leather.

French luxury brand, Hermès has collaborated with biomaterials company MycoWorks to create a high-quality mycelium material known as Sylvania, which has been used in a version of Hermès’ famous Victoria bag. European patent protection has been granted to MycoWorks for the method of growing this mycelial material, while Hermès, who tans and finishes the mycelium sheets in its French tanneries, has patented the process for producing the finished leather substitute.

US biotech, Bolt Threads has also developed a mycelium-based leather known as Mylo™, and has been working with a consortium of brands comprising Adidas, Kering, Lululemon and Stella McCartney, who have each used Mylo™ in a small number of products. However, Bolt Threads was forced to pause its production of Mylo™ in 2023 after failing to secure the funding necessary to scale commercially.

Other bio-based materials

Players in this field are also looking beyond bacteria and fungi to create leather alternatives and other eco-friendly materials.

US biotech, Modern Meadow, in collaboration with Italian textile company, Limonta, has developed luxury leather alternative, Bio-Tex™ by combining plant-based proteins with biopolymers using a process that significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption compared to the production of chrome-tanned animal leather. Luxury brand Tory Burch uses Bio-Tex™ in a bio version of its Ella tote bag, which is available alongside its original Ella tote.

Other innovators are using the byproducts of fruit processing to create fruit-based materials. UK headquartered, Ananas Anam transforms pineapple leaf fibres into its sustainable leather substitute, Piñatex using its patented process which has generated interest from the fashion sector. Similarly, Spanish fabrics innovator, Pyratex has developed a range of fabrics from agricultural waste, including a banana-waste material that has been used by Ganni for clothing.

Ganni has also collaborated with US biomaterials company, BioFluff to create a further special edition of its Bou Bag, this time using BioFluff’s wholly plant-based fur alternative produced from nettle, hemp and flax fibres using plant-derived enzymes.

Legal considerations

Parties’ roles and obligations 

The parties to the types of collaborations mentioned above should establish a framework for how they will work together at the outset to avoid surprises or disagreements down the line. The nature of the collaboration will depend on what each party is bringing to the table which could range from funding to research and development expertise to manufacturing services to intellectual property rights (or a combination). These inputs together with the level of involvement that each party will have in the other’s work processes will in turn dictate the type of agreement that is required. This could take the form of a one-way services agreement if one party is predominantly providing manufacturing services to the other with only financial input from the service recipient, for example. Alternatively, if both parties are working together on the development of the material and/or the finished product, the agreement will need to reflect the flow of services both ways. Any agreement should include a clear project plan, setting out each party’s roles and obligations for each phase of the project.

Exclusivity should also be considered when determining the nature of the arrangement. If exclusivity is a factor, the scope and duration of that exclusivity should be clearly defined so the parties know what they can and can’t do with third parties and to ensure that any exclusivity restrictions are legally compliant. Exclusivity may relate to a product, brand category and/or type of fabric and would usually impose some restrictions on both parties. For example, a fashion brand may negotiate exclusive rights to use a particular biologically engineered material for a certain period in relation to a particular product or category of products. In turn, the fashion brand may agree not to work with another company developing the same or similar type of material. Interestingly, the Hermès x MycoWorks collaboration appears to be focussed on creating a material exclusively for Hermès products, whereas Ganni’s collaborations in this space have allowed it to partner with various biomaterial innovators in respect of its Bou Bag.

Intellectual property

Given the innovative nature of these collaborations, intellectual property will inevitably play a key role. Many biotech companies, and in some cases the brands themselves (for example, Hermès), have been successful in obtaining patent protection for the processes involved in producing these innovative biomaterials. Other relevant intellectual property rights include copyright in design drawings, design rights in the finished products and the trade marks of both parties. Know-how relating to the production processes should also be considered, along with the protection of other confidential information. Accordingly, the collaboration agreement should set out the parties’ rights in respect of all intellectual property relating to the project. This includes both the pre-existing intellectual property owned or licensed by a party and used in the collaboration, as well as any new IP that will be created during the collaboration.

Where a collaboration involves a brand reinventing one of its existing products with a new material, pre-existing intellectual property may take the form of patents and know-how relating to the materials on the biotech’s side, and copyright and design rights in the applicable garments or accessories on the brand’s side. Typically, each party will retain ownership of its pre-existing intellectual property and will licence the other party to use such intellectual property for the purpose of the collaboration (depending on the parties’ respective activities). Where the collaboration results in the creation of something new such as a new material, an improved production process or a new design, the parties should agree beforehand who will own the rights in that new creation and often a licence will need to be granted to the non-owning party to enable it to perform its collaboration activities.

In terms of trade marks and branding, the parties will need to consider whose branding will appear on the products and any associated marketing materials or other documentation. If there is to be some form of co-branding (for example, the name of the fashion or luxury brand and the name of the material), the agreement should include appropriate trade mark licences to permit certain rights of use by the other party while protecting the proprietor’s rights in its brand.

Risk, liability and indemnity 

Finally, the parties should agree who bears the liability and risk in which part(s) of the final product and the processes along the way. Product liability and intellectual property infringement are likely to be the key risk areas arising from these collaborations. How risk is allocated will depend on the bargaining power of the parties and what they are each bringing to the table. For instance, the brand will want to ensure that the biotech company bears liability for defects in the material, whereas the biotech company will want the brand to be liable for any issues with the final product. Appropriate indemnities (to cover third party claims, for example) are likely to be put in place on that basis. Reciprocal indemnities covering losses arising from third party intellectual property infringement claims should also be included in the collaboration agreement so that each party stands behind the intellectual property that it contributes to the collaboration.

Looking ahead

Engineering biology offers significant sustainability and environmental benefits, which may help fashion brands to address consumer demand for eco-friendly products. Initiatives in this area are not new. However, at the time of writing, their reach remains limited. This is largely due to high production costs and scalability challenges which are restricting products to the high-end luxury sector, where higher price points and limited production runs are better tolerated by consumers. Other barriers to the wider use of biologically engineered fabrics include resistance to change among consumers and within supply chains, and the need to further test durability and longevity of the materials to ensure they match the performance of traditional materials.

Successful collaborations between engineering biology companies and fashion brands are key to overcoming these challenges to make innovations more accessible, and their use more widespread. To ensure that their collaborations are mutually beneficial, it is crucial that the parties involved build a robust contractual foundation that will allow them to pursue their mutual goals.