A research team led by the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology has engineered a living fabric grown from fungus that can clean itself, regenerate damage and biodegrade within weeks. The breakthrough uses Cordyceps militaris, also known as caterpillar fungus, a threadlike organism widely used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The study addresses a long-standing hurdle in engineered living materials: scaling microscopic living cells into large, durable structures that stay alive and functional. The Shenzhen team’s method allows the fungal fabric to be customised with other microorganisms, adding colour or built-in UV protection without synthetic dyes or chemical coatings. Environmental assessments found the material degraded within 41 days, opening a path to circular fashion designed for reuse or recycling, as well as biodegradable packaging.
Researchers demonstrated the material’s potential by producing a dress from the fungal fabric, signalling ambitions beyond lab-scale proof of concept toward wearable prototypes.
For Indian design houses experimenting with biomaterials, the development lands at an opportune moment. Labels like Doodlage and Ka-Sha have already built reputations on textile waste innovation, while Bengaluru-based Phool has pursued flower-waste leather; a living, self-repairing fungal textile represents the next frontier such studios are likely to track closely. Indian handloom clusters, long reliant on natural fibres like cotton, jute and silk, could eventually explore fungal biofabrication as a complementary, low-water alternative as sustainability compliance tightens across export markets.
