12 minute read
Green is the new black: Imperial startups creating the future of fashion
Green is the new black
Three in five fast fashion garments end up in landfill within a year of purchase. High street stores are one of the biggest threats to the earth’s environment and also threaten human rights laws, with 93 per cent of brands not paying their garment workers a living wage. Joy Adeogun meets the Imperial entrepreneurs fixing fashion and showing us that green truly is the new black.
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Although fashion and science may seem an unlikely match, if we look closely, science plays a huge role in influencing our latest trends and consumer habits. So, let’s map out the term ‘fast fashion’ and see why a vintage clothing revival is what the world needs.
Unwinding threads
London Fashion Week and our national guilty pleasure, Love Island, are two of many cultural events that influence our thirst for the newest trends, the most stylish outfits and the chicest looks. Missguided reported that after a contestant wore an item on screen in the Love Island 2018 series, sales increased by up to 500 per cent. This year, Love Island partnered with eBay to promote pre-loved clothes and accessories, demonstrating a cultural move towards sustainable fashion.
Our environment often takes the stress of our irresponsible shopping habits. A desire for supplying the latest fashion trends, cheaply and in vast quantities, has led to the fashion industry becoming one of the world’s major polluting industries. The industry is responsible for around 10 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, 20 per cent of global water pollution and half a million tonnes of microfibres being released into waterways annually, predominantly caused by the overproduction of clothing items to satisfy demands for ‘fast fashion’.
The term ‘fast fashion’ describes promises made by retailers to drastically reduce the time taken to get clothing from factories to shelves. Profit-driven retailers focus on processes at the lowest prices possible, often with a disregard for ethical humanitarian issues. We are reminded of the 2021 Primark supplier which allegedly locked its workers in a factory during protests in Myanmar.
Disposable fashion generates remarkable amounts of waste. There is a destructive cycle as consumers discard old clothes to keep up with the latest trends. So, let’s pause fast fashion, look at its longevity problems, and explore the eco-friendly solutions Imperial College London entrepreneurs are creating.
The problem with fashion
The fashion industry has an irreversible effect on the environment. It depletes the world of non-renewable resources, releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and drains vast amounts of water and energy. It is estimated that the fashion industry is responsible for two to eight per cent of global CO2 emissions – greater than all international flights, maritime and shipping combined.Its water consumption statistics are even more shocking, with around 215 trillion litres of water consumed by the industry each year. Many of the key cotton-producing countries are under high water stress, including China, India, the US, Pakistan and Turkey.
Nadine Moustafa, a Research Postgraduate at Imperial’s Department of Chemical Engineering, was interviewed following her academic research into carbon capture and personal interest in the fashion industry.
Nadine said: “At the moment, there’s a lot of greenwashing in the industry. There are many companies vouching for things and trying to investigate loopholes about how they can market themselves as sustainable. Consumers are becoming more aware of this, and so that might change, but companies must justify their facts with research and reports.
“Vintage shopping is the way to get truly environmentally friendly options,” she says. “The good thing about vintage is that it promotes resale and
Top tip: £400
BILLION
Did you know that according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, more than £400 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underutilisation and the lack of recycling?
Buy less, invest in sustainable quality and recycle. It may be called ‘fast fashion’ but your spending habits don’t have to be.
wearing pre-loved items. But we must overcome this strange, irrational mental block about wearing something someone else has already worn.”
Vintage: the old is the new new
The Sustainable Development Report 2021 tells us that fashion trends repeat every 20 to 30 years. Cue the low-rise jeans and bucket hats of the early noughties that have been top of the fashion wish list in 2022. As trends are revived, consumers are looking to get their hands on vintage clothing. Ironically, retailers respond by producing ‘vintage’ imitation garments.
The pandemic has had a lasting effect on fashion waste. During initial lockdowns, many people undertook clear-outs, and the UK public disposed of roughly 67 million pieces of clothing. While most stored their items to donate to charity, as many as 14 per cent of people disposed of their unwanted clothes in general rubbish headed for landfills or incinerators.
Scientific solutions
Although clothes are traditionally made from cotton and leather, our contemporary high street garments are increasingly likely to be made of materials derived from fossil-fuel-based crude oils, creating polysynthetic fibres like nylon and polyester. These materials do not biodegrade, meaning they are harmful to the environment. This is where Imperial's entrepreneurs are using cutting edge science and technology to create the future of fashion.
Sustainable textiles
Cotton is the most widely used natural fibre in the textile industry, with an estimated 27 million tonnes produced annually. The water footprint of cotton is large, requiring up to 10,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of cotton, which equates to 2.6 per cent of global water usage. Materra is building climate-resilient farming systems to empower more sustainable cotton supply chains. The team, founded by three graduates from the Dyson School of Design Engineering, has “revolutionised the way cotton is grown through using both efficient and regenerative farming systems that radically improve the sustainability performance of the fibre,” according to Erik Karlsson, an investor in the business.
In early 2021, Materra – founded by Edward Brial, Edward Hill and John Bertolaso – set up its first industrial pilot in Gujarat – India’s largest cottongrowing region – with collaborators Fashion for Good, Arvind Limited, Kering, PVH Corp and H&M Group. The Materra team is tackling issues of crop resistance head-on by deploying innovative technology
Materra is building climate-resilient farming systems
Top tip: 71%
Did you know that 71% of people say shopping at a charity shop offers affordable options?
Go on, wear actual vintage! Check out charity shops in wealthier boroughs; you’ll find some steals!
Petit Pli turns recycled plastic bottles into clothes that expand with the child who wears them
SHADE highlights sustainable fashion across any shopping website. It lets you know if the product you’re browsing is from an unsustainable brand before it’s in your cart
developed at Imperial.
In 2022, Materra announced a $4.5 million seed funding round to develop their technology and business proposition, driving sustainable solutions for the cotton farming sector, co-led by H&M Group and Invest FWD.
Growing garments
We all know how quickly children grow out of their clothing. In recent years, many new companies have popped up offering subscriptions and clothing hire to combat this issue. But an Imperial startup is going one step further – creating clothes that grow.
Petit Pli turns recycled plastic bottles into clothes that expand with the child who wears them, reducing water and carbon footprints, and the need to keep buying new clothes. The company’s circular design approach eliminates waste before, during and after use, with garments that grow up to seven sizes.
While a student on Imperial’s Global Innovation Design course, Petit Pli founder Ryan Mario Yasin won the James Dyson Award, an international design prize that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. While starting off with childrenswear, the team has now branched into sustainable adult wear, such as clothes that grow for pregnant women.
Farm waste to fibres
Fibe is a sustainable alternative to traditional textiles such as cotton and polyester, made from potato harvest waste. Founded by Idan Gal-Shohet, Premal Gadhia, Pablo Durán Millán, David Prior Hope and Patrick Gonda – all students at Imperial’s Dyson School of Design Engineering – Fibe uses the world’s 250 million tonnes of potato harvest waste, which would otherwise be pulverised, incinerated and wasted each year.
Supported by Imperial Enterprise Lab, Imperial College Advanced Hackspace and Climate Launchpad, Fibe has been shortlisted for the James Dyson Award 2022.
Empowering consumers
Although high street retailers are aware of increasing consumer demand for ethical clothing choices, many brands respond to this by greenwashing and falsely presenting products as environmentally friendly when they're not.
A team of Imperial graduates from Innovation Design Engineering – Sille Eva Bertelsen, Fatimah El-Rashid, Jenny Hu and Samurai L – have decided to ‘throw shade’ on these brands. Their anti-greenwashing browser extension called SHADE, part of the larger SHADY. CLUB works by displaying colour-coded emoticons showcasing sustainability ratings while a user shops online.
SHADE highlights sustainable fashion across any shopping website. It lets you know if the product you’re browsing is from an unsustainable brand before it’s in your cart and helps you find product lookalikes from the sustainable brands the team works with.
Top tip: 82%
Did you know that 82% of men would rather throw away used clothes than recycle them, compared to 69% of women?
The most eco-friendly piece of clothing you can wear is one you already have in your wardrobe!
To dye for
Founded by recent Chemical Engineering PhD graduates Aida Rafat and Anton Firth, and Professor Jason Hallett, DyeRecycle's innovative technology paves a sustainable way for colouring clothing.
DyeRecycle provides a circular chemical technology to decolour textile waste and reuse old dyes. Its patentpending process takes in coloured textile waste and transfers the colour onto new material, decolourising the waste. The resulting white fibres are then more easily recycled and carry a higher value. DyeRecycle’s process also recycles the dyes, reducing the leaching of dyes and chemicals in the fabrics into landfill soil. The extracted dyes are robust
DyeRecycle's innovative technology paves a sustainable way for colouring clothing.
BioPuff®, a plant-based fibre fill material designed to keep wearers warm without harming the environment
93%
Top tip:
93% of brands surveyed by Fashion Checker aren’t paying garment workers a living wage. Be a smart shopper. If it seems too cheap, it probably is. and the shades and colours in the subsequent dyeing process can be carefully controlled and applied to a range of textured textiles.
DyeRecycle says that widespread use of its processes has the potential for an 85 per cent reduction in dyestuff use, a 65 per cent reduction in water footprint, 57 per cent lower cumulative energy demand and 70 per cent lower global warming.
Lab-grown fur
Luxury fashion house Fendi, part of LVMH, wants a sustainable alternative to fur. Researchers from Imperial and Central Saint Martins are on the case.
Finding an integrative alternative to fur in the fashion industry means replicating the luxury qualities of the original material. If it feels fake, then it’s a failure. Professor Tom Ellis in the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial thinks he has part of the answer: use genes from fur-producing animals, such as fox and mink, to grow substitute hair fibres in the laboratory.
“In the last decade, our understanding of biological materials and how they are made by nature has increased dramatically,” Professor Ellis explains. “It’s now the perfect time to initiate the idea of designing fibres for fashion made sustainably from microbes.”
Puffers without the poultry
Saltyco is a materials science company that makes planet-positive textiles by healing damaged ecosystems through its innovative material supply chain. The team’s approach to regenerative agriculture focuses on three elements – restoration, context-led farming and steady growth – and involves partnerships with a community of farmers and conservation groups.
The team has developed BioPuff®, a plant-based fibre fill material designed to keep wearers warm without harming the environment. The team says that BioPuff® resembles down and is lightweight, warm and naturally water repellent, while also being biodegradable and cruelty free. Its cluster structure traps heat within small air pockets to retain warmth.
The team is comprised of four Imperial Innovation Design Engineering graduates – Julian EllisBrown, Nelly Taheri, Antonia Jara Contreras and Finlay Duncan.
In 2022, the team was
The lifecycle of a t-shirt 1 2 3 4 5
Harvesting cotton – it takes 3,000 litres of water to make a single cotton t-shirt. Dyeing the fabric – 20% of all freshwater pollution is made by textile treatment and dyeing. It releases harmful chemicals into waterways, leading to aquatic life toxicity. Transportation – shipping accounts for an estimate of 2.5% of the world’s total CO2 emissions. That number could rise to as high as 17% by 2050. Buying from our stores – in 2019, spending on clothing reached an all-time high at approximately £58.7 billion.
Throw-away landfill
– 85% of textiles go to landfill each year rather than being recycled. New research from Oxfam reveals that the UK’s throw-away fashion culture sees 11 million items sent to landfill each week.
named as a Global Change Award winner by the H&M Foundation. Clara Brook, Strategy Lead for the Global Change Awards at the H&M Foundation, said: “We’re certain there is a vast number of great ideas out there, but we know access to capital, know-how and business support is scarce, and many great ideas never get to see the light of day. We want to find these ideas and give them the support needed to make a difference. With our previous Global Change Award winners, we’ve already seen it’s possible to influence and disrupt the fashion and textile industry.”
Fashion’s future
As for fashion’s future? Sustainable alternatives are needed. The global middle class is set to increase to 5.5 billion people by 2030. If the fashion sector continues its current trajectory, its share of the carbon budget will increase to 26 per cent by 2050. This means that three times as many natural resources will be needed by 2050 compared to 2000. While retailers do seem to be realising the significance of sustainable clothing materials, there is plenty of work still to be done.
Science and fashion are perhaps a match made in heaven. There can be no doubt that recent and future scientific discoveries will play a significant role in changing our shopping habits. Not only improving our experience as consumers, but also for the betterment of our world.
