https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7382-1211
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Abstract
The fashion industry is highly responsible for critical environmental problems and the sector is increasingly aware of the urgent need to embark on a sustainable transition. Materials, primarily textiles, are particularly problematic for the sector’s unsustainability, despite the intensive research into alternative solutions that is currently underway. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of these socio-environmental challenges and describes how governments, industry, and designers are seeking to address the situation. Furthermore, it identifies a panorama of alternative bio-based and bio-fabricated materials that could facilitate the transition toward more sustainable fashion. We present a selection of 24 case studies of newly developed bio-based and bio-fabricated materials and group them by their origin. Analysis of the cases led to the delineation of five “materials biography categories” to help understand the prominent narratives and to communicate their characteristics and fundamental attributes. This taxonomy also serves to support concepts for a circular economy by helping to build a sort of “material passport” or “product biography,” two concepts underpinning the outcome of this study, and emphasizes the need for tools to further the communication and traceability of these emergent materials. We propose “materials biography,” an overarching idea that catalogues essential dimensions and offer it to designers, companies, and final users to enhance their perception and awareness of such novel materials.
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
2 Sustainable Fashion Summit, ECOSOC Chamber, Friday, 1 February 2019, H. E. Ambassador Inga Rhonda King, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. See http://www.un.org/ecosoc/sites/www.un.org.ecosoc/files/files/en/president/2019/remarks-ecosoc-president-sustainable-fashion-summit-01-feb-2019.pdf
3 It has been estimated that around half a million tons of microfiber, which is the equivalent of 3 million barrels of oil, is now being dumped into the oceans every year. See https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1035161.
4 See https://unctad.org.
6 See https://bangladeshaccord.org.
12 See https://www.lvmh.com.
14 See https://rapanuiclothing.com.
16 See https://resortecs.com.
17 See https://fashionchecker.org.
19 See https://knownsupply.com.
22 See https://www.modernmeadow.com.
23 The Materials Driven Design (MDD) method supports design for meaningful material applications with the material as a point of departure. Designers quality the materials not only for what they are, but also for what they do, what they elicit from us, what they express to us, and what they make us do. The process comprises four main action steps, starts with a material (or a material proposal), and ends with a product and/or further development of materials. See http://materialsexperiencelab.com/material-driven-design-method-mdd.
24 The DIY movement is expanding beyond artifacts to include the materials from which products are made, namely DIY-Materials. DIY-Materials are created through individual or collective self-production experiences, often by techniques and processes of the designer’s own invention, as a result of a process of tinkering with materials. They can be new materials with creative use or other substances as material ingredients, or they can be modified or further developed versions of existing materials. Designers from all over the world are engaged in various experimental journeys in the field of material development, and they consider these experiments as the starting point of their design process which will lead to the creation of new artifacts. The possibility to self-produce their own materials provides designers with a unique tool to combine unusual languages and innovative design solutions with authentic and meaningful materials experiences.
26 See https://www.ecovative.com, https://mogu.bio, https://www.mycoworks.com, and https://www.modernmeadow.com.
28 See https://malai.eco.
31 See https://www.zoamaterials.com/zi.
32 See https://www.algiknit.com.
37 See https://www.mylo-unleather.com, https://www.adidas.co.uk/blog/663481-stan-smith-mylotm-made-using-mushrooms, https://www.mylo-unleather.com/stories/stella-mccartney-debuts-a-mylo-bustier-top-and-trouser-set/
39 See https://www.ananas-anam.com.
41 See https://www.braskem.com.br.