LONDON — At Future Fabrics Expo, the glass is always half-full — of wood pulp, fungi and biodegradable pigments — just waiting to be worked into mass and luxury clothing, footwear, accessories and home furnishings.

The optimism at this year’s fair was palpable, with more than 2,000 visitors, 50 new innovations and more than 120 exhibitors, the highest on record. They ranged from industry giants such as LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Lenzing and Canopy, an NGO working to reduce deforestation, to start-ups.

During the event, which ran June 24-25, entrepreneurs and exhibitors highlighted innovation, collaboration and the efforts they are making across every inch of the green supply chain, from forest, field and farm to couture gown, luxury handbag and underwear elastic.

Change is happening at speed.

As the fair opened, Patrick McDowell announced a first-of-its-kind collaboration with Sparxell, a biotech firm founded by University of Cambridge scientists Dr. Benjamin Droguet and Professor Silvia Vignolini and backed by LVMH.

Sparxell creates plastic-free, toxin-free, plant-based biodegradable pigments, inks, glitters, sequins, and films using natural cellulose derived from wood pulp and agricultural waste.

McDowell’s printed couture gown and commercial shirtdress marked the first time that Sparxell’s patented tech has been applied to fashion. The designer described the firm’s colors as “exceptionally vibrant,” and said they open up “entirely new creative possibilities.”

Hydefy, the Chicago-based company that uses fungi and sugarcane waste to create leather alternatives, is also pushing forward with innovation. The company behind Stella McCartney’s silver Ryder bag has been intensifying its efforts to enrich the look and feel of its leather-like materials, creating deeper graining and a softer, drapier feel.

Mandy Geddert, a textile engineer and founder of the Berlin-based haberdashery Charle, is paying more attention to the inside rather than the outside of clothing.

Working with Lenzing’s Tencel Lyocell fibers and natural rubber, she has created plastic-free, biodegradable elastic trims and other stretchy components for waistbands and straps on skirts, underwear and lingerie.

“Sometimes change starts with something as small as a waistband,” said Geddert, who said her stretchy bands might, in the future, also be used for toys, children’s clothing and automotive interiors.

HerMin Textile is another company that’s been working with Lenzing to create plastic-free textiles. The company, which specializes in sports and performance fabrics, showed off swatches of water-repellent fabric that had the feel of crisp poplin.

The front and lining of the fabric was made using Tencel fibers, and the company said it has been working closely with Lenzing to create the yarn that goes into the fabric.

Lenzing may be one of the biggest players in the sustainability arena, but there is still so much to be done, said Florian Heubrandner, executive vice president in charge of filaments.

He said the challenges are varied, and include working Lenzing’s wood-derived cellulose fibers into more day-to-day products. Lenzing works closely with brands and mills around the world to develop new, and more sustainable, hybrid materials.

“Our existing fibers are so versatile, and there are so many sub-types,” which can be used for knit and woven fabrics, and for trims, curtains, denim and underwear.  

Of late, Heubrandner’s team has been turning its attention to menswear and trying to develop a “bulkier” fabric for formal shirts.

“We’re looking for a more stiff, cotton-like touch,” said Heubrandner, pointing out that shirts made using Tencel Lyocell fibers have a softness and drapey-ness that makes them ideal for dresses, but not necessarily for men’s shirts.  

Lenzing is not alone in working closely with partners. One of the big ideas coming out of the expo is that cooperation is often the mother of innovation.

Nowhere was that spirit of cooperation more apparent than at LVMH, which had a major presence at the expo.

LVMH’s Life 360 environmental action program is structured around five pillars: biodiversity protection, climate change mitigation, circular economy, transparency and business partners.

Nona Source, LVMH’s online resale platform for “re-sourcing” leftover materials from the group’s fashion and leather goods maisons, said it is expanding rapidly. It has begun offering leather and deadstock material from houses outside the group, including Lanvin.

Nona Source, which has 4,500 fabrics in its arsenal, has also figured out what to do with deadstock yarn. The team turned to its neighbor in Paris, Benjamin Benmoyal, to transform the yarn into fabric, which is now sold on the platform.

The French giant is also working with WeTurn, which collects production scraps from various fashion houses, shreds it, adds virgin fibers and creates new yarns for denim and other fabrics.

Other companies in the LVMH orbit are solution-providers, such as Fairly Made. It offers supply chain traceability for brands, including Loewe, so they can stick to their green commitments and keep consumers informed about where materials are coming from, and how they are made.

LVMH is also working with Genesis, which assesses soil health, and with Söktas on regenerative farming in the cotton industry. The LVMH partners are working directly with farmers on transitioning to regenerative agriculture, which can be time-consuming and expensive.

Funding remains a challenge for companies that are looking to scale their inventions or services, and was another major theme to emerge at the expo.

For instance, PDS Limited and PDS Ventures are hoping to solve some of the money issues, especially for start-ups and small businesses.

PDS is a manufacturing and sourcing platform that works with brands and retailers around the world, and provides a global “plug-and-play” platform for entrepreneurs. Its ventures arm focuses on seed and early-stage investments in sustainable products and technologies that serve customers and suppliers.

Yael Gairola, a non-executive director at PDS Limited and an investor at PDS Ventures, argued that “there is a gap between innovators and the industry. Innovators are still struggling to achieve scale, and you can only deliver impact through scale. We want to be part of that opportunity.”

Canopy is also looking to help drive scale. It was there to support the launch of Circulose Forward, a platform meant to provide “practical, scalable solutions” that align with climate science and market needs.

Nicole Rycroft, founder and executive director of Canopy, described Circulose Forward as “the kind of innovation that helps the industry leave deforestation in the past and move decisively toward a resilient, low-carbon, next gen future.”

Despite all the challenges — spiraling costs, governments’ backpedalling on green policies and mounting tariffs — green innovators have been making steady progress, argued Malini Mehra of Globe Legislators, an organization that aims to support government lawmakers in advancing laws on climate change.

Speaking during a panel discussion, “On the Road to COP30: How Can the Fashion Industry Be a Climate Solution?” she argued that there is “too much amplification of gloom and doom in the media.”

Mehra said that, instead, green innovations — and regulations — are helping to reshape economies worldwide. She said the regulations coming out of Brussels are “trendsetting,” and the European Union is “leading the way” on sustainability directives, with the Chinese now taking cues from Europe.

She added that regulation works best when policymakers tune into the industry’s needs, ambitions and budgets.

Mehra acknowledged that Europe’s small and medium-sized companies are “screaming in pain” about new and proposed regulations, and that legislators have to “meet those companies where they are now, in this era of implementation and delivery.”