Theanne Schiros, assistant professor in the math and science department at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, tells the publication that materials science is looking to nature for “rapidly generating organisms that are abundant.” Schiros and students at FIT have been using algae to create a yarn-like fiber. The resulting material has the strength and flexibility needed for mass-marketed clothing.
Others are looking to bacteria for natural dyes to replace the 3,500 synthetic chemicals currently used in commercial textile dying processes. Laura Luchtman, owner of Dutch textile and design studio Kukka, uses bacterial nutrients and bacteria to dye fabrics. Natsai Audrey Chieza, founder of biodesign lab and creative research agency Faber Futures, tells Scientific American that such processes can cut water usage 20%.
High costs, however, remains a challenge. “Similar to the debate around renewable energy, cost-completeness will not only rely on solid science and a technology that works—it will need to be enabled through government subsidies and a mental switch towards investing in R&D,” Chieza says.
Suzanne Lee, founder of London-based Biocouture, notes that “cyclical thinking” needs to be considered even when materials are renewable. “If fast fashion is to persist, the materials that are used must begin to be able to be cycled back into the raw material textile streams that feed that segment of fashion,” Lee says. “They shouldn’t be destined to a landfill during the design process; it’s on all of us, especially designers, to strive for this change.”