Material World: Stella Spotlights Seaweed, Cycora Jazzes Up Reformation
Material World is a weekly roundup of innovations and ideas within the materials sector, covering news from emerging biomaterials and alternative leathers to sustainable substitutes and future-proof fibers.
Keel Labs x Stella McCartney
Sustainability champion Stella McCartney reunited with Keel Labs to “change the tide with seaweed.”
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The next-gen material fan featured the startup’s Kelsun fiber in the luxury label’s Spring 2025 Paris runway show—marking the second time McCartney has spotlighted the seaweed biopolymer fiber on the catwalk.
“Exactly one year prior, we debuted Kelsun on Stella’s runway—a pivotal moment in Keel Labs’ history, we were honored for that to be a major first for us,” said Aleks Gosiewski, Keel Lab’s co-founder and COO. “The partnership continued to blossom over the year, and lead to a feature for a second time in the SS25 collection. With scale on the horizon, we are looking forward to continuing our work with the Stella McCartney team and becoming a staple in Stella’s material library for future seasons.”
To make Kelsun, Keel Labs uses the abundant biopolymer alginate found in seaweed. The seaweed goes through an extraction process to isolate the alginate before combining the biopolymer with proprietary ingredients to form a solution. That solution sees polymer chains “link up” to create thousands of fine filaments that are stretched and finished before being dried and spun into spools of Kelsun.
Qorium
Cell-cultured leather company Qorium teased its latest sample of lab-grown leather.
Measuring just over a foot in length and height, the material was made using the firm’s newly scaled-up tissue bioreactor, which serves as a proof of concept for full-scale commercialization of the production process. That process takes a small sample of skin cells from a living cow and reproduces them in a lab. The result is leather of the same strength, durability and appearance as traditionally produced, animal-derived leather.
“This sample is tangible proof that a future where high-quality, high-performing leather can be produced on-demand—without the animal welfare and environmental disadvantages of traditional material—is just around the corner,” said Michael Newton, CEO of Qorium. “The challenge of scaling-up a process has been a tough one, and this latest breakthrough is a testament to the hard work of our excellent science and engineering teams.”
To produce the material at a commercial scale, Qorium claims its material requires “a fraction” of the water and energy “needed to rear and process animal hides.” In turn, climate impact is minimized while animal welfare concerns are alleviated. Qorium said it’s partnering with a range of high-end fashion and automotive brands to co-develop this—and other—materials.
“The fact that with a relatively small team, in a relatively short amount of time, we have been able to create high-quality sheets of leather that demonstrate scalable production processes shows that we’re on track toward having a product that’s ready for market,” Qoirum founder Mark Post said. “From a science perspective, we still have much work to do, but the principal challenges are now overcome.”
The company accelerated its growth trajectory, following a recent funding round, hiring a new chief financial officer and investing in new equipment for its Maastricht University-based lab in the Netherlands.
“The next pieces of the puzzle are focused on continued product optimization, cost reduction and process engineering, where we’re already seeing very positive progress,” Post said. “The future certainly looks very promising for cellular agriculture.”
Ambercycle x Reformation
Ambercycle and Reformation have joined forces to debut the materials science startup’s Cycora in key pieces of the It Girl brand’s latest collection—signaling the start of the duo’s ongoing partnership.
“At Reformation, we’ve set an ambitious commitment to become circular by 2030. To us, that means using as little virgin material as possible, creating as little waste as possible, and keeping what’s in the fashion system in use for as long as possible.” said Kathleen Talbot, chief sustainability officer and vice president of operations at Reformation. “Through Cycora, Ambercycle is helping brands like Ref bring closed-loop garments to the market. This is an especially important step forward for circular fashion when you consider that more than half of global fiber production is composed of fossil fuel derived synthetics like polyester and, at present, nearly all of it ends in landfill after its first life.”
The new collection, intended to complement Ref’s jewelry collaboration with designer Clare Waight Keller and “evoke the glamour” of the 1920s, centers around “evening-appropriate” garments. Cycora polyester—a high-performance material made from discarded textiles—will be incorporated into the pieces.
“We value Reformation’s high material standards and are excited to help them meet their circularity goals,” said Shay Sethi, CEO of Ambercycle. “Collaborating with another like-minded, LA-based brand to drive global impact is especially meaningful. By integrating Cycora into their collections, we’re not just advancing sustainability—we’re transforming how materials are sourced, used and reused in fashion.”
Beyond Leather
Danish furniture brand Takt and Beyond Leather Materials—the creators of the apple waste-based leather alternative, Leap—formed a strategic partnership. The two Scandinavian brands released animal-free upholstery options for eight of Takt’s chair designs, including the best-selling Cross Chair.
“At Takt, we aim to create furniture that is as good for the planet as for the people, and Leap first perfectly into that vision,” said Michael Lysemose, product developer at Takt. “We wanted to offer an animal-free option that would be still of high-quality and would match with our design principles, and Leap delivers on both fronts.”
The collaboration marks two milestones: the first time Takt’s chairs offer a vegan option as well as the first time the furniture upholstery sector utilized Leap. Each chair upholstered with Leap calculates the CO?e emitted and is certified with the EU Ecolabel as to underline its reduced footprint. The Cross Chair, for example, cuts its climate impact by 53.2 percent. The Leap upholstery version has a climate impact of 30.23 kg CO?e, compared to 64.58 kg CO?e for the leather version.
“Our collaboration with Takt is rooted in the shared principle of celebrating transparency all the way through our businesses,” said Mikael Eydt, co-founder and CEO of Beyond Leather Materials. “We’ve been in conversation for two long years, so it’s really excited to finally see Leap enhancing Takt’s timeless designs as an animal-free upholstery option.”
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