I have first met Aniela, founder of NEFFA, at this year’s Wear It in Berlin. The name NEFFA means “net effe anders” in Dutch, wanting to do things just a bit differently. NEFFA has been founded in 2004 by Aniela. She is really inspiring und entrepreneurial in finding solutions for the challenges in fashion industry. Aniela does not believe that changing the consumption behavior of billions of people is possible. Therefore, she and her team are searching for material and production methods to make cradle-2-cradle in fashion industry reality. NEFFA is quite visionary and works with mycelium, the roots of mushrooms, as sustainable fabric. Using mycelium in fashion industry means being carbon-negative, which is absolutely ground breaking in contrast to the fast fashion system we have right now in western societies.
At NEFFA, the biological fungi based material is grown on a 3D-body, without sewing or cutting. It is only produced what is being needed and fully relies on natural resources. The mycelium is fast-growing and when dried is nontoxic, water-resistant and fireproof. After wearing the clothes, it can be composed because it is biodegradable. Bringing fruitful resources back to the ground. MycoTex feels like leather or paper and can be dyed. There is no need for using chemicals and pesticides. With the production method, Aniela can reduce water usage by 99,5% and offer a local opportunity for manufacture clothes. NEFFA can only be successful, if consumer will be ready to wear mushroom based clothes – the solution of Aniela is depending on the consumer attitudes and behavior. And the production of mycelium on a big scale has to be validated. Other startups are working with mushrooms as well like MuSkin, MycoTech, MycoWorks. Sustainable fashion pioneer like Stella McCartney are already experimenting with mushroom leather for an accessories series.
Copyright Photo by NEFFA