Korvaa Project's first bio shoes demonstrate how collaboration and innovation can solve complex manufacturing challenges in a sustainable way.

The revolutionary footwear design presented by the Korvaa Consortium at the Future Fabrics Expo in London on the 24th and 25th of June marks a turning point in nature-inspired manufacturing. This is what makes the Korvaa Project's shoe a novelty and an example to follow for the fashion industry.

About The Korvaa Project's World-First Bio Shoe

The Korvaa shoe is a footwear like no other. The concept shoe, developed by the Korvaa Consortium, a pioneering collaboration of biomaterial innovators, designers and filmmakers, combines three leading biomaterial technologies for the first time, mirroring nature’s approach to solving complex design challenges through a purposeful selection of biologically-derived materials.

Made from a novel combination of mycelium, bacterial nanocellulose, and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), the Korvaa Project shoe steps beyond traditional manufacturing to demonstrate what is possible when science, design, and storytelling converge. Footwear, one of the most complex product categories in fashion, typically requires over 30 distinct material inputs that are often synthetically derived from petrochemicals. The Korvaa shoe tackles the same design complexity with just five material components, each chosen for its unique strengths, and designed to work in harmony.

Each Korvaa Consortium innovator contributed their technological expertise:

• The shoe’s upper was made by Modern Synthesis, a company leveraging material science to transform nanocellulose – a natural byproduct of fermentation – into functional and responsible textiles and coatings.
• The scaffold for the shoe’s base was 3D printed by Ourobio, a company developing Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a class of bio-based, biodegradable polyesters that replace petrochemical plastics.
• The shoe’s sole was grown in only 7 days by Ecovative, a company specialising in mycelium-based materials by using solid-state fermentation to cultivate mycelium through the PHA scaffold.
• The shoe was constructed by industry-leading specialists in footwear design and manufacturing, using traditional string-lasting techniques. The laces and support lining are made from cotton and lyocell.
• The collaboration was documented by Photino Science Communications, a Finnish science communication company with a focus on synthetic biology, capturing the journey to educate and inspire wider industry adoption.

Jen Keane, CEO and co-founder of Modern Synthesis, says: “By combining materials the way nature does – not by adding more, but by choosing better – we’re creating radical design possibilities for the industry. This unlocks unparalleled creative freedom, introducing novel functionalities and forms that simply couldn’t be achieved through conventional means. We’ve developed an artefact that is a tangible blueprint for the future of manufacturing.”

“This shoe demonstrates what becomes possible when three distinct biological processes work together,” says Ecovative co-founder and CEO Eben Bayer. “Each material was chosen for what it does best – and together they show that biology can manufacture complex products that traditionally require dozens of synthetic inputs. Collaboration like this is how we grow the material support system for a planet that works in harmony with humans.”

Nina Pulkkis, Documentary and Production Lead at Photino, adds, “The first step is developing the technology, the second step is getting the story out there. Documenting this project from the beginning reveals the immense potential that arises when we align nature’s intelligence with human innovation – this is the kind of collaboration that makes you want to be part of the change.”

With the presentation of the Korvaa shoe, the material innovators behind the project invite brands to connect, explore, and collaborate in co-creating the next generation of truly sustainable, functional, and future-fit products.