This week on Everybody in the Pool, we’re rethinking how clothes, shoes—and even car interiors—get made without plastic. My guest is Maria Intscher-Owrang, CEO and co-founder of Simplifyber. Her innovation takes plant fibers + water, then forms finished 3D shapes in a single step—skipping spinning, weaving, cutting, and sewing.
We get into:
- What’s broken about fossil-based textiles (cost curves, subsidies, and why polyester took over)
- How Simplifyber’s cellulose slurry + compression molding works—and why it cuts waste dramatically
- Early results: an LCA showing up to 30× lower impact for shoe uppers vs. standard construction
- Performance and durability (including why these parts can survive sun/heat/humidity in car interiors)
- Unit economics: cost parity at scale via tooling (and why higher volumes matter)
- Beachhead products: GANNI “moon shoe” uppers and a Kia EV2 concept interior, now moving toward production
- What this could mean for labor, local supply chains, and using regional feedstocks (cellulose everywhere)
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