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The Sustainable Fashion via Biotechnology

Problem in fashion industry

In 2021, fashion and its supply chain has been identified as the third largest polluter after food and construction. It contributes around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, it is found that over 90% of the emissions for apparel come from four activities: dyeing and finishing, fabric preparation, yarn preparation, and fiber production. If fashion industry still on the conventional method in producing the textile, it will surely creating a great impact to the global warming issues. Thus, a greener and sustainable fashion is needed.

Have you ever heard about dyeing clothes with bacteria or algae?  Growing clothes from fungi? Or agri-waste textile? These are all REAL. To reduce the pollution, fashion industry is seeing the beginnings of a biotechnological revolution. Biotechnology plays an important role in creating a promising future. Just like a Midas touch, it will turn the ordinary thing becomes fantabulous. In fashion industry, biotechnology has shifted the conventional textile making to bioengineered process.

 

Solving problem via Biotechnology

Agri-waste textile

Agri waste or agro-residue describes all organic material produced as by-product after harvesting and processing agricultural crops. Example of crops that generate considerable residues are rice, wheat, sugarcane, corn, banana, and bamboo. Manufacturing yarns from agri-waste is zero water footprint raw materials and reduce the fashion’s carbon footprint.  On the other hands, it is also benefiting farmers by improving their livelihood prospects in rural areas.

Fig.1: Ingeo, a textile made by corn fiber.

https://startupfashion.com/ingeo-fabric-made-from-corn/

 

Corn fiber is used to make non-woven textiles, sportwears, knitwears and other outer garments. However, how does this corn fiber is made into wearable textile? By fermentation, corn fibers are made from the corn starch. Products from the fermentation transformed into a high-performance polymer known as polylactide, which can be spun or processed into corn fiber. Besides being processed into pure corn yarn, corn fiber also can be blended with natural fiber such as cotton, wool, silk and viscose. The corn fiber textile is a natural flame-retardant, has good strength, provide comfort, softness and drape, it also has moisture management property and low odor retention.

 

Dyeing cloth

Synthetic dye is used because it is inexpensive compared to natural dye. However, the usage of synthetic dye involved many chemicals which impact our health and the environment. For example, the indigo pigment that used to dye blue jeans is derived from petroleum and using sodium dithionite as reducing agent that is affordable yet damaging to environment. Persicaria tinctoria or famously known as Japanese indigo is a plant used as a source of indigo dye. Even though the leave appears green, after being sun-dried and intensive fermentation the damaged leave will produce the indigo pigment.

 

The use of reducing agent is environmentally unsustainable and the other hand using Japanese indigo plant is too expensive. Therefore, a technology is developed where E. coli bacteria is modified to produce indican, a precursor to indigo that prevent the use of damaging reducing agent such as sodium dithionite. Indican can be stored or transformed into indigo just by adding enzyme to the mix.

Fig.2: A culture of modified E. coli that produce indican, the precursor for indigo.

 

The Future

In conclusion, application of biotechnology to ameliorate the fashion and textile industry’s pollution problem is a wise choice. Besides, it can also provide variation and ecofriendly choices to consumers.

 

References:

Toprak, T. & Anis, P. (2017). Textile industry’s environmental effects and approaching cleaner production and sustainability, an overview. Journal of Textile Engineering & Fashion Technology. 2(4):429-442.

Claudio L. (2007). Waste couture: environmental impact of the clothing industry. Environmental health perspectives, 115(9), A448–A454.

Azeem, M., Iqbal, N., Mir, R.A. et al. (2019). Harnessing natural colorants from algal species for fabric dyeing: a sustainable eco-friendly approach for textile processing. Journal of Applied Phycology. 31, 3941–3948.

Oorthuijs, M. (2021, February 27). Can Biology Save Fashion. Retrieved from https://vusci.blog/2021/02/27/can-biology-save-fashion/

Velasques, A. (2018, January 9). Researchers Are Using Bacteria to Make Sustainable Indigo Dyes. Retrieved from https://sourcingjournal.com/denim/denim-brands/researchers-using-bacteria-make-indigo-dyes-95748/

Shah, R. (February 1, 2017. Eco-fabric: Bizarre innovations for a sustainable future. Retrieved from https://www.tfod.in/art-design-articles/5526/eco-fabrics-bizarre-innovations-for-a-sustainable-future

Tejaswini, L. R. (Januari, 2016). Fibre from corn. Retrived from https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/7676/fibre-from-corn

Cowley, L. (July 28, 2021). What is fabric made with corn? Retrieved from ecoworldonline.com/what_is_fabric made_with_corn

https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/428612/view/genetically-modified-e-coli-culture-dish

https://www.thredup.com/resale/#resale-growth

 

By   

Dr. Nur Akmal Ishak 
Cik Erra Noorfazira binti Bandong
Biology Unit, ASPer

Tarikh Input: 02/04/2022 | Kemaskini: 30/11/2022 | emma

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