The Unexpected Direction of Sustainable Fashion

In today’s day and age, sustainability has been at the forefront of conversation in the fashion industry. With more mass produced brands than ever before and the increased rate mass production has experienced in recent years, there has been a catastrophic amount of waste and pollution being created; thus sparking such conversation. With the emergence of this topic, luxury and fast fashion brands alike have begun making strides in the spectrum of sustainable fashion whether it is the creation of a recycling program or a new, eco-friendly clothing line.

With the popularity of the topic, we’ve all become aware of lines such as H&M’s Conscious Collection or Tiffany & Co.’s sustainable actions, but there is one company that is going above and beyond these simple practices, using biochemistry to actually grow clothes.

Suzanne Lee leads the creative direction of a biotech start-up, Biocouture, which uses bacteria and other organisms to grow the fabric they make clothing with. For example, cultures of bovine cells are being used to make fabric with similar qualities of leather. Even further, the company can modify the strength, feel, and various other characteristics of the fabric by simply using modifications of these cultures. This innovative technology has been acknowledged by industry sources such as CNN, Popular Science, AEG, and various others as the next step in fashion production; however, as with any new innovation there are several challenges that must be overcome before it can be implemented as a sustainable option:

1. Difficult for Mass-Market Production for Developed Countries

With this technology being very new, its high costs and requirement of skilled biochemists, goes directly against the idea of mass production. While innovative, the aspects of this technique will slow its introduction to mass-market production, where in most cases factories make clothes as cheaply as possible.

2. Resistance to Change

While, Lee explains the materials to be similar to ones we are already used to such as cowhide, there will inevitably be some differences that consumers may not be very receptive to. Additionally these differences may entail washing these clothes differently and thus require consumers to learn new cleaning techniques.

3. Procedures Unfit for Developing Markets

In an interview with Popular Science Lee speaks about not only bringing this technology to the masses in developed countries but to local areas in developing countries as well. However, this may prove very difficult due to the special procedures and knowledge this method requires. Lee acknowledges this challenge and explains, “we need to find a way to adapt a simpler recipe and method so that it can be made with little skill and differing resources.”

Sources

http://www.popsci.com/meet-woman-who-wants-growing-clothing-lab

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/29/lee.grow.clothes/