To listen to the podcast, click here.
Material innovation takes two forms. You can develop alt materials that have less impact on the planet, or you can take existing fossil fuel-based materials and develop circular recycling systems to keep them out of landfills and use them again. Both innovations are exciting and both are hard.
The good news is that VC funding in the green space has bounced back, albeit with a more selective approach that shifts the investing vibe from “gold rush” to “growth state.” In fact, biomaterials startups pulled in $392 million during the first quarter of 2025 alone, per Net Zero Insights—underscoring that next-gen investors are coming back after a few quiet years. Also back is the Material Innovation Initiative—the next-gen material innovation think tank that shuttered operations in September but quickly re-opened after a cash infusion.
In this podcast episode of Sourcing Journal Radio, Alex Harrell, Sourcing Journal’s sustainability and innovation reporter, chats with Lauren Parker, director, Fairchild Studio, about what’s new and what’s next in material innovation, and why “innovation tourism” is slowing progress.
“The idea of innovation tourism is what happens when fashion brands want the experience of engaging with next-gen material innovations, but not the responsibility of partnership,” explained Harrell. “To extend the metaphor, they’ll book the resort’s day-long excursion, pause for the photo op at the mycelium step and repeat, maybe take a boat tour on seaweed sourcing and attend a panel on algae-based textiles. But when it comes time to sit down for dinner with the locals, aka co-invest in scaling, commit to offtake agreements and pay for prototyping iterations, they’re already back on the hotel’s shuttle bus.”
To listen to the podcast, click here.
To download the Material Innovations Report, click here.