× Materials 101
What Is Mycelium Material? A Plain-Language Guide to the Future of Materials
Mycelium is the root network of fungi—and it may be the most important material science story of the decade. Here is how it works, why it matters, and what AXIS is building with it in Kentucky.
If you have never heard the word “mycelium” before, you are not alone—and you are also about to hear it constantly. Mycelium is the branching, thread-like network that fungi grow underground and inside decaying matter. It is the living infrastructure of a mushroom, the part that does the work while the cap you recognize is really just the fruit. At AXIS, that network is the starting point for a new class of sustainable, nature-inspired material.
The short version
Mycelium materials are new materials that are produced from the building blocks of mushrooms. Grown rather than manufactured, they can be processed into leather-like sheets, thread, panels, and more—materials that are natively biodegradable and require a fraction of the water and energy of the things they replace. We call the family of what we make Pure Mycelium Materials, or PMMs.
The idea is deceptively simple. Give mycelium something to eat—typically agricultural by-products, the leftovers of farming that would otherwise go to waste—and it grows a dense, interwoven mat. Harvest and process that mat and you have a functional material. No animal, no petroleum, no three-year wait for a cow to reach slaughter weight.
Why now?
Two things are converging. First, the environmental math on legacy materials has stopped adding up. Traditional leather is tied to the cattle industry, one of the largest single contributors to deforestation, freshwater use, and greenhouse gas emissions. Synthetic “vegan” leathers, meanwhile, are usually plastic, and plastic does not disappear—it fragments. Second, the tools of modern biology and fermentation have matured to the point where growing a material to a specification is no longer science fiction.
We are not making a substitute. We are making a whole new category—one that behaves the way industry needs and returns to the earth when its life is over.
What can you actually make with it?
More than most people expect. Because a PMM can be engineered—its thickness, texture, color, and finish tuned during growth and processing—the same underlying material adapts to very different jobs.
- Leather-like textiles for fashion, footwear, and accessories
- Thread and yarn-scale material for apparel
- Acoustic panels for architecture and interiors
- Personal protective equipment (PPE)
- Biomedical and health applications
The Kentucky connection
AXIS is a Kentucky-based startup, and that is not incidental. Kentucky agriculture generates exactly the kind of by-products mycelium thrives on. By sourcing feedstock locally and growing materials close to where they are used, we shorten supply chains, cut transportation emissions, and turn regional farm waste into high-value products—while supporting local agriculture and green jobs in the Commonwealth.
That is the whole thesis behind our name: Agriculture × Innovation Science. The material is grown from the land, and engineered by the lab. If you want to see where this is heading, our About page walks through how it works and why it is so much cleaner than the status quo.
— Work with AXIS
Interested in collaborating, testing, or learning more? We’d love to hear from you.
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