Fashion's Biofabrication Revolution

Ayesha Ahmad

• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781636760346
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias biológicas
• Subtopic: Biotecnología

Have you ever imagined being able to wear a piece of clothing that was grown for you? In Ayesha Ahmad's Fashion's Biofabrication Revolution, she shares how that's not only possible, but the future of fashion.

In this book, you will discover how this industry has evolved and why we're now at the crossroads between buying the next big thing and needing to make choices that will protect the environment.

In this eye-opening work, you will learn:

• What fast fashion has done to our environment and why we need to alter our relationship with the clothing we wear.
• How biofabrication is changing the fashion industry and what designers and scientists have already accomplished.
• Why bacteria is referred to as nature's perfected tool and the incredible uses we have for it.

Exploring the past, present, and future, you'll see how America's fashion industry has progressed and how biofabrication will change it for the better.

Fashion’s Biofabrication Revolution

Fashion’s Biofabrication Revolution

Ayesha Ahmad

New Degree Press

Copyright © 2020 Ayesha Ahmad

All rights reserved.

Fashion’s Biofabrication Revolution

ISBN 978-1-63676-510-5 Paperback

978-1-63676-033-9 Kindle Ebook

978-1-63676-034-6 Ebook

Contents

Introduction

Part 1.
The Ghost of Fashion Past, The Ghost of Fashion Present, and The Ghost of Fashion Yet to Come

Chapter 1.

The Fast Fashion Industry

Chapter 2.

The History of Fashion in the United States of America

Chapter 3.

What is Biofabrication?

Part 2.
The Biofabrication Age

Chapter 4.

Growing Leather with Modern Meadow

Chapter 5.

Refashioning Fibers with Bolt Threads

Chapter 6.

MycoWorks - Making Leather from Mushrooms

Chapter 7.

Biogarmentry- The Living Garment

Chapter 8.

Chip[s] Board- Making a Fashion Statement with Fries

Part 3.
Fashionable Fibers

Chapter 9.

AlgiKnit- Creating Knitwear with Kelp

Chapter 10.

SmartFiber AG- Fibers for Our Skin

Chapter 11.

Ananas Anam and Piñatex

Part 4.
Bacteria to Dye For

Chapter 12.

Faber Futures-Add Some Coelicolor to Your World

Chapter 13.

Designing Color with Bacteria at Vienna Textile Lab

Chapter 14.

Bacteria- Literal Living Colour

Chapter 15.

Finding Your Favorite HUUE of Denim

Part 5.
Conclusion

Conclusion

Appendix

Acknowledgements

To Ammi, my fashion icon

Introduction

Imagine being able to use your afternoon tea to create a jacket. Sounds crazy, right? Well, that’s exactly what Suzanne Lee did.1 Suzanne Lee is a New York-based fashion designer who constantly experiments with new fashion techniques and technology. In one of her experiments, Lee created a “kombucha culture,” a mix of tea, sugar, bacteria, and other microorganisms. She grew this culture in an empty bathtub, creating a material that she describes as “looking like human skin.”1

What Lee pioneered is unimaginable for the everyday fashion enthusiast, as most designers would not think to use bacteria to create a material for fabric. While the idea of a bacteria jacket sounds like a cute fashion fad, it has the potential to change the way the current fashion industry is producing clothing. It may not have been included amongst this season’s must-haves, but you definitely need one in your wardrobe if you are looking to stay ahead of the trends of the future.

In today’s fast fashion industry, it’s easy to get caught up in buying the next big thing. Every season brings a new trend to follow and, naturally, a desire to keep up with these new trends. As a result, many companies are mass-producing clothes to appeal to their trendsetting consumers. While this may be allowing consumers to stay stylish, this fashion cycle is detrimental to the environment.

According to a report published by Quantis, the fashion industry’s mass production of apparel has an increasingly negative impact on climate change. Between 2005 and 2016, the industry’s impact on climate change rose to 35 percent and is projected to grow from 2020 to 2030. While these figures are a bit daunting, Lee’s experiment allows for an alternative to this destructive production. Hello, bacteria jacket!

As a Bioinformatics major, I am intrigued by Biology, whether it be microbes or the anatomy of the human body; the subject never fails to pique my interest. Simultaneously, I am a fashion enthusiast. Growing up, my mom influenced my interest in fashion as she would take her clothes and modify them. Whether adding accents to her shirts, or completely redesigning a dress, my mom hoped to emulate the styles she saw while flipping through Vogue or on a model strutting down a catwalk.

My mom and I always watched the runway shows of our favorite designers together, such as Tory Burch and Tommy Hilfiger. She taught me how to sew (even though I am not very good) and how to express myself through what I wear. For me, fashion is a creative outlet through which I showcase my vibrant personality.

Fashion and Biology have been major influences in my life. Still, I did not consider their overlap until I went down a Google rabbit hole and started to research about bacteria and spider silk—how companies and fashion designers are using these resources to challenge the way we currently wear clothes. I am excited to see where Biology will take the fashion industry and how it will help to create more sustainable methods of apparel production. This book is for creatives, inventors, or anyone interested in exploring something new.

While the intersection of Biology and Fashion is relatively new territory, the exploration of their intersection creates endless possibilities for both the scientific and fashion communities. These two industries are so completely different, making it hard to believe they could complement each other. What would a scientist and fashion designer talk to each other about anyway? Apparently, a lot more than you would expect. Because these two fields are so unrelated, I believe that they have the potential to create something extraordinary together.

What I have found has inspired me about the future of fashion and how nature is poised to disrupt it.

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1 Suzanne Lee, “Grow your own clothes,” filmed February 2011 at TED2011 in Long Beach, CA, video, 06:25.

Part 1

The Ghost of Fashion Past, The Ghost of Fashion Present, and The Ghost of Fashion Yet to Come

What was the fashion industry like before, how has it changed, and where is it going? In this section, we will explore these three questions. In the indigenous practices of Native Americans, there is a responsibility toward nature. Textile and garment making both use the resources that nature provides. Natural resources fuel the production of clothing.

With colonization and the industrial revolution, a new source of fuel was introduced: fossil fuels. These shifted the focus from nature to production. Today’s fashion industry is fueled by an entirely new craze: the desire to stay up to date on the trends of our favorite influencers. This leads to the production of tons of clothing, as well as the expansion and pollution of natural resources in the process.

The future of fashion lies with connecting back to nature. Biotechnology provides this future through biofabrication. With biofabrication...