H&M, Levi’s, Puma among early backers of next-gen clothing materials

The future of clothing depends upon new materials. Innovators and brands are working on these potential replacements.

Brands from Adidas to Zara know that old-school materials can’t deliver the low-carbon future that fashion needs. Climate change is disrupting their production of traditional staples such as cotton, leather and wool. Consider that the apparel industry creates about 4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, and it’s nowhere near being able to curtail that.

That’s why industry innovators are turning their thinking upside down by sourcing new materials from some surprising and unlikely sources.