Science fiction? Nope, this stuff is real. Meet Suzanne Lee of Bio-Couture. Ms. Lee is a designer based in London, England. No, not that kind of designer- a fashion designer. She’s also a Senior Research Fellow at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.
Ms. Lee is very interested in the sustainability issues that should be involved in the fashion industry. She knows that leather manufacturing involves a slew of toxic chemicals and employs (pollutes) thousands of gallons of water. So, she is using microbes to generate cellulose instead of cotton, growing the cellulose in sheets, which she then stitches together to make luxury and high-end apparel.
And, she was lucky to meet Dr. David Hepworth, who suggested the use of microbes to make the substrate (the material) for high fashion. And, when was the last time you considered that high fashion would be highlighted in a science museum? (Science Museum of London; a hint of the exhibit is found below.)
She received a grant from the Arts and Humanity Research Council (2006, about $ 100K) to set up Bio-Couture. (Their website just went off line and is due back any day now- supposedly with new information.) It still is a research project of sorts (even though the grant is over) to determine the best temperature, the ratio of nutrients, etc.
Using a similar process as that needed to produce green tea, a concoction of sweetened tea, bacteria, and yeast is used to produce these sheets of cellulose. The microbes “eat” the sugar, producing fibers of cellulose that can be dried out (remove moisture), where the edges of the sheet fuse together. These papyrus-like sheets of material are really non-woven mats of cellulose about 1.5-2 cm (nearly 1 in) thick, after about a week of fermentation. The material can also be formed wet onto a 3D form (a dress shape, for example). The material actually becomes softer as you wear it. (Your body heat makes the material more pliable.)
The fabric is either bleached or colored using fruit juice or vegetable dyes (turmeric, indigo, beetroot have all been used). And, of course, if you wear the garment out, you can just return it to the environment from which it emanated via composting.
So, when are you buying yours?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVW-jSdhILs
I’m not a fashion person, if it covers the parts it’s supposed to cover then it’s all good. I’ll be interested to see how this translates into everyday life though. Great post, Roy…and when you get yours tag me in those photos 😉
lisa brandel recently posted..Ethical Kitty See’s Your Dilemma by Lisa Brandel
Oh, you mean parts are supposed to be covered? I thought that’s why we have those new words- wardrobe malfunction, Lisa…
Very interesting… I love the idea of not using leather anymore, so it would be very exciting if they could come up with a formula that would work and be sustainable. It is strange to think of wearing clothing made from bacteria.
Suerae Stein recently posted..Imagination… Friend or Foe? Part 2
Yes, Suerae, this is one time where we are not treating our clothes to withstand bacterial infestation…
We’ll have to see where this technology goes- with lower prices and more “moldability”, it could make a big difference.
The video was fascinating!
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I’m glad you liked that video, Toni. I was pretty partial to it, as well!
It feels a lot science fictiony but also a lot like returning to the world before chemicals when we found really cool ways to do things with natural products. When do I want mine – when it costs a price I can afford in a style that flatters the bulges
I’m with you on that one, Roberta. That is one of the reasons why this is being used for haute coutoure- because the price of the process right now keeps it out of the realm of fashion that is reasonably priced.
Thanks for the visit.
Honestly, I’m not quite sure how to react to this one, Roy. I guess my first is – ‘there’s a grant for that?’ :-). I’m all for sustainable and organic, but not sure wearing a garment produced in such a fashion would be something I’d embrace. I’ll be curious to see what the come up with next (on many fronts – and backs I suppose, too).
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Nanette:
I could see the value of the grant. It proved the point that we can make clothing textiles via microbial means. It also shows that, as opposed to the growth cycle of cotton, that we could generate fabric over the course of 2 weeks.
What is didn’t shot was that we could make the fabric on a large scale (which would require fermentors (reactors), extraction processes, etc. It did not show whether we could then mold these materials into a variety of useful shapes and products. My guess is that will take another grant for a university or for a place like the Institute for Textile Technology (funded in large part by Milliken et. at.) to take this concept to a more useful plateau.
Thanks for the comment and thought-provoking query.
I hardly ever discuss these posts, but I assumed this on deserved a thumb up