In Virginia, a political science major at Liberty University has been growing his own clothes.
Luis Quijano, now a senior, said he has been growing a leather-like material via fermentation with water, sugar, green tea, and kombucha.
Interest in renewable fabrics and vegan leather is growing due to the fashion industry’s poor environmental performance. The use of 3D forms to dry sheets of biobased materials into a shape could revolutionize the way clothes are made.
“It has the potential to eliminate a lot of waste from the fashion industry,” says Quijano. “This textile circumnavigates a lot of the processes of the industry.”
Quijano originally became interested in the process after a 2011 TED talk by fashion design Suzanne Lee, who also is chief creative officer at biobased leather startup Modern Meadow.
Quijano began fermenting the fabric in his dorm room, but has since moved production to incubators at Liberty’s Center for Natural Sciences.