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Stella McCartney Debuts Fevvers’ Plant-Based Feather Alternative at Paris Fashion Week

The startup behind the vegan material now seeks seed funding to harden the prototype for pilot collections.

Overview

  • McCartney closed her Spring/Summer 2026 show at the Centre Pompidou with three gowns made using Fevvers’ plant-based feather analogue.
  • Fevvers, founded by Nicola Woollon and James West in the UK, says the material remains too fragile for mass-production quality control and needs further R&D.
  • McCartney framed the debut as an ethical stand, saying brands that still use real feathers are choosing cruelty over creativity amid industry concerns over practices such as live-plucking of ostriches.
  • The co-founders have not disclosed the underlying plant, though McCartney said the show pieces used naturally dyed blades of grass grown on her Sussex property and hand-stitched with Chanakya International.
  • The company, self-funded until now, is preparing a pre-revenue seed round and small commercial pilots to validate demand and advance scientific stabilization toward 2026 iterations.