Everbloom, a startup based in New York City, has developed a cashmere-like fiber called renoa that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission recently approved as the first new fiber classification in 25 years. The regulator oversees fiber labeling in the United States. Everbloom has spent three years developing the material and is now working to scale it up. The company built its own AI model for material science, and a cashmere substitute is its first product.
Renoa is made from waste protein sources, including scraps of cashmere and wool as well as down and feather lint left over from the bedding industry. Everbloom turns that waste into a powder, blends it with a biodegradable biopolymer, and extrudes the mixture to a length and diameter that mimic specific natural fibers. The result is a material the company says is washable and more affordable than cashmere.
Co-founder and CEO Sim Gulati showed off renoa products at Everbloom's headquarters, which sits 15 floors above 5th Avenue, kitty corner from Bryant Park. The items included a crewneck sweater, knit gloves and a scarf. The sweater and gloves were soft and light, but the scarf drew the most attention: Gulati had worn and washed the custom test item for months, including a run through the tumble dryer, and it showed no pilling and had not shrunk.
Everbloom is working with a range of companies to bring renoa into consumer products. The first items are likely to use renoa as a blended fiber making up around 20% of the material in a cashmere sweater, for example. Gulati said the first product is expected to reach the market in the second quarter of 2027.
A blend of 80% cashmere and 20% renoa felt extremely close to pure cashmere, and Gulati said the additional finishing that commercial garments receive should remove any remaining differences without sacrificing washability or stability. Cashmere has spread across the fashion industry, from expensive cardigans to inexpensive crewnecks, but it remains relatively costly, difficult to care for and environmentally fraught, with the goats that produce it degrading rangelands across Central Asia.
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