51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Biomaterials company Ponda has seen its flagship material featured in fashion designer Genaro Rivas’ menswear collection.

On 29 July, London’s Spitalfields Market hosted the UK premiere of State of Impact, the latest fashion collection by Peruvian designer Genaro Rivas. The show featured pieces made of next-generation materials, including Ponda’s BioPuff®, a plant-based insulation made from bulrush grown in restored wetlands rather than from oil or animal products.

Ponda’s BioPuff® was used in four designs, showcasing how a new generation of biomaterials can find its place in high-end fashion. Rivas’s SS27 collection has already been presented at Berlin Fashion Week and will go on to Copenhagen Fashion Week, with the London event marking its UK debut.

A look from Genaro Rivas' menswear collection featuring Ponda's BioPuff® at Spitalfields Market London (left); designer Genaro Rivas (right).

From wetlands to manufacturing: towards sustainable biomaterials

The fashion show appearance is one of many recent milestones for Ponda. The company has recently been awarded a £2.4 million grant through DEFRA’s Farming Innovation Programme, co-funded by Innovate UK, to lead what is expected to become one of the world’s largest demonstrations of bulrush paludiculture – the cultivation of bulrushes on rewetted peatland.

The project, led by Ponda, brings together a consortium including J&K Barnard Farms, Liverpool John Moores University, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Finance Earth and Berghaus, with the aim of developing a commercially viable model for large-scale wetland farming and establishing a new UK supply chain for sustainable biomaterials.

Ponda has also been named Innovator of the Year at the inaugural Pride in Our Planet Awards, selected by a judging panel chaired by the UK's Climate Minister, Katie White OBE MP, from more than 300 entries.

Built at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Ponda’s founders met while studying on the Innovation Design Engineering double Master’s programme, run jointly by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s Dyson School of Design Engineering and the Royal College of Art.

The team participated in the  in 2020 and has since continued to be supported by the range of university mentoring programmes. In 2025, Ponda closed a $2.4 million seed investment round to commercialise BioPuff®, and is currently supported by , a 12-month programme led by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø that focuses on helping climate tech ventures to scale, navigate manufacturing, and raise Series A funding.

Ponda is also currently working with 51³Ô¹ÏÍø on two new branded clothing pieces – a Mallard gilet and a Fern cap – for the 51³Ô¹ÏÍø College Union shop, which will be available this autumn. This collaboration is part of Sustainable 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, the university’s commitment to lead on climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution through research, education, operations and community action.