Biocouture. Growing sustainable fabrics
London, Southwark. When trying to predict the future of fashion, it's easy for us to get hung up on 'miracle' technologies alone. But what if the most explosive innovations of the future are organic? What if technology becomes part of nature and we no longer try to dominate it?
The term biocouture exists to express this idea. Biocouture is a concept that involves creating fashion or sportswear from biological materials. It is one of the most provocative initiatives in the industry today, as organic life finds itself at the center of fashion production.
The author of the concept, Susan Lee, has written a book about the future of fashion, where she makes predictions about the fashion business 50 years from now: "I talked to scientists and engineers and one of them turned out to be a biologist. He was the one who explained the situation to me. If I want to be a pioneer in fashion, I need to rethink the process of making clothes. He suggested that I imagine growing a dress out of liquid with the help of bacteria. This idea blew my mind! We started by producing in small containers in my bathroom, and then, experimenting with temperature and technology, we soon saw that the idea was very promising".
Surprisingly, the process Susan uses is insanely simple. It turns out that it's not hard at all to grow what feels like fabric to the touch. In addition, the resulting material can be sewn together like an ordinary piece of textile. This idea completely changes our usual understanding of how we can create the clothes of the future. This technology is 100% environmentally friendly.
Take note of the basic recipe for the production of biotissue: green tea, sugar and vinegar. With the help of bacteria, this solution begins to cultivate, a base is obtained - a mother culture, which then grows on the surface of the liquid. This material has the shape of the container in which it is grown. It is therefore necessary to design a container in advance that is suitable for the shape and material to be created.
This method of fashion production reminds me of beer fermentation or cooking. It is not at all like the traditional way of producing textiles. The material resembles sugar when wet and has no odor at all after drying.
As soon as the material dries, you can start laser-cutting details into the biofabric. Here is an example of such laser perforation. The drawing is abstract, but this abstraction is actually non-random. It has the shape of a bacterium, which is used to grow biotissue.
Susan Lee: "We do collaborations with scientists growing materials in the lab using living organisms. Then we help them bring those materials from the lab to market. Imagine future fashion or design products that will be made from living organisms".
This technology is of particular interest. So far, the textile industry has developed based on the use of natural resources. For example, cotton comes from Indian fields and nylon is produced from petroleum products. With this kind of production technology, the environmental issue is acute. If the buyer could be the independent engineer of the garment, then we would have the opportunity to reduce the impact of this unspoken pact of the old world.
When we talk about fermentation of living organisms, there is no concept of waste. Traditionally, fabric is produced, cut and sewn, which leads to a lot of waste. The potential of this technology is that it is possible to grow the fabric to the shape you have already designed in advance.
Unfortunately, Susan Lee and her team are not yet genetically engineering bacteria to create materials. It's still not nanotechnology. But the future will be to specifically modify the properties of bacteria and give them specific properties. If we want a biotissue to repel water, deliver nutrients, or give special properties to your skin, it can all be modeled. To understand what will be in fashion 50 years from now, we need to talk to the scientists and engineers who are already working in the lab on new experimental materials and production methods. It makes sense. No matter how you look at it, 90% of the planet is covered in cellulosic materials.
Unfortunately, Susan Lee and her team are not yet genetically engineering bacteria to create materials. It's still not nanotechnology. But the future will be to specifically modify the properties of bacteria and give them specific properties. If we want a biotissue to repel water, deliver nutrients, or give special properties to your skin, it can all be modeled. To understand what will be in fashion 50 years from now, we need to talk to the scientists and engineers who are already working in the lab on new experimental materials and production methods. It makes sense. No matter how you look at it, 90% of the planet is covered in cellulosic materials.
Susan Lee and her team are also inspired by 3-D printing. But it's not today's printing, which still uses petrochemicals or plastic, filling the world with more plastic. That's all the company's enemies. They are of the opinion that the 3-D printing process should also be 100% organic and natural. Unfortunately, most players in the textile business don't talk to scientists who do research in this field and don't ask questions about sustainable production. But thanks to Susan and her allies, there is hope for alternative developments in the fashion industry.