Fashion is universal. Whether it’s choosing your daily outfits or walking down the runway in designer clothes, the concept of self-expression through garments has existed for decades. Despite the increase in fashion trends spread via social media, how does the rising industry pay an unfavorable cost for all the clothes it produces?
The Detrimental Effects of the Fashion Industry
Extensive volumes of energy, water, and other resources are used to make clothes. These resources are not only used in vast amounts, but they also often end up in wastelands. As compared to the previous century, more and more people are keeping clothes for shorter spans before dumping them. Keeping up with the latest fashion trends could in the future be detrimental to our environment.
The carbon footprint of the fashion industry is an ever-growing one; the industry itself contributes to about 10% of annual global carbon emissions. When talking about just a single garment’s lifecycle, the steps themselves produce a lot of emissions. Large amounts of resources are used only for the product to be dumped in the end. Solutions are arising to solve this problem, though, and some of the promising ones connect to science.
How Science Can Turn This Issue Around
Scientists have figured out that incorporating science into our clothes may be a solution to the fast-fashion emission problem. Instead of having multiple steps which only create more emissions, leaving clothes to be thrown out and dumped in wastes, scientists have decided to artificially create certain types of fabrics to save steps and ensure that garments won’t be dumped out at the end.
SCOBY Used To Make Vegan Leather
SCOBY is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.
When making products like kombucha, very little SCOBY actually goes to waste. The leftover SCOBY can be saved and used to make more SCOBY. It’s even possible to use SCOBY to make 100% biodegradable vegan leather through processes like harvesting, drying, and molding.
Essentially, SCOBY being able to create more of itself suggests that we could have an unlimited supply of it. SCOBY vegan leather means we could be able to stretch the leather into any shape and would be able to fit the types of clothes we wear and what the industries needs. The leather being biodegradable means that we can reduce carbon emissions produced by the fashion industry and reduce the levels of greenhouse gases in the air.
Microsilk
Microsilk is made through a “process of fermenting water, yeast, and sugar with spider DNA,” according to CFDA.
To make Microsilk:
“Making synthetic spider silk involves several simple ingredients and very meticulous science. Sugar, water, and yeast cells infused with spider DNA are combined and left to ferment in large stainless-steel tanks. The mixture is then centrifuged, purified into a powder and mixed with a solvent. The resulting liquid silk protein, which looks like glue, is in the same natural state as the liquid protein that actual spiders extrude from their silk glands and then form into fiber.”
Microsilk offers an alternative to regular silk. It is warmer than wool, lightweight, and stronger than silk. Microsilk being biodegradable lowers carbon emissions as it won’t end up being dumped since it would go back into the soil.
Microsilk is still in its research and development (R&D) phase but it’s already being implemented in clothing. The Adidas x Stella McCartney partnership for instance has led to the creation of the Biofabric Tennis Dress made from microsilk.
Why should we care?
SCOBY vegan leather and microsilk are only some of the many ideas and solutions scientists are coming up with to manage and reduce the carbon footprint of the fashion industry. Using SCOBY in clothes shows that we could potentially leverage our natural resources to solve this environmental issue. Additionally, creating a product like microsilk shows that we can create new resources too to reduce emissions. All in all, science is essential to fashion as it could really prevent the dangers we are soon to face with the gigantic carbon footprint the fashion industry has attained.
References
- Ajmera, Rachael. “Kombucha SCOBY: What It Is and How to Make One.” Healthline, Healthline Media, 12 July 2023, www.healthline.com/nutrition/kombucha-scoby#diy.
- “Biomaterials: What Is SCOBY Leather?” Environmental Center, 4 Nov. 2021, www.colorado.edu/ecenter/2021/11/04/biomaterials-what-scoby-leather.
- “CFDA.” Cfda.com, 2024, cfda.com/resources/materials/detail/microsilk-from-bolt-threads#:~:text=Microsilk%E2%84%A2%20is%20made%20through,%2C%20elasticity%2C%20durability%20and%20softness.
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