The demand for organic and ecological fabrics for making clothes has definitely grown in recent years, paving the way for organic cotton, bamboo textile fibers and synthetic fibers made from waste such as recycled plastic. A further step forward in this sense could be marked by the manufacture in the laboratory of a new material: soft and resistant vegetable leather, suitable for the production of both clothing and fabrics.
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The request of biological fabrics ed ecological for the production of clothes and accessories has definitely grown in recent years, paving the way for organic cotton, bamboo textile fibers e synthetic fibers made from waste like recycled plastic. A further step forward in this sense could be marked by the manufacture in the laboratory of a new material: soft and resistant vegetable leather, suitable for the production of both clothing and fabrics.
This new perspective arises from research conducted at the University of the Arts in London, aside Suzanne lee, researcher and author of the book "Fashioning the Future: Tomorrow's Wardrobe" in which the future of fashion is explored, with particular attention to the materials to which new trends will soon have to adapt in the name of greater sustainability of the fashion industry.
The creation of the new fabric, baptized as "Vegetable leather", has received the support of the British company BioCouture and will be able to boast its ability to produce a new fabric in a truly unique and practically Polluting emissions very close to zero. Only a small trace of them would remain, compared to the pollution produced by the common manufacturing processes of fabrics.
Lee employed a culture of yeasts and bacteria to create a fabric similar to cellulose and whose appearance brings it very close to what could be defined as vegetable leather. For the production of the fabric, natural substances such as XNUMX/XNUMX cup sugar e green tea, from which the action of yeasts and bacteria allows the creation of a fabric that can be used in the field of clothing. Its production would be much more sustainable than that of cotton fabrics, which every year in the world requires the use of more than that 200 billion liters of water and a huge use of electricity.
The process for manufacturing the new fabric also allows it to be completely vegetable and free of toxic substances (remember, for example, pesticide residues that can affect non-organic cotton fabrics), as well as 100% compostable. The use of water is limited to what is strictly necessary and the dyeing of the fabrics takes place through the use of vegetable ingredients, such as beets and blueberries. The project promoted by Suzanne Lee and BioCouture was among the protagonists of the London Design Week 2011, promoting a happy agreement between the fashion world and environmental sustainability.
Marta Albè
