Fermented fashion:why bacteria could represent a solution for sustainable textiles

The textile industry is gearing up to innovate itself and find less impactful solutions:fermentation represents the latest fashion frontier.

• Fermented fashion represents the last frontier in experimentation with regards to sustainable fashion.
• The action of bacteria on elements of vegetal origin is able to create completely bio-based textile fibres, easily recyclable and biodegradable.
• From established brands complete with certifications to university experiments, the panorama of molecules fermented in textiles is progressively expanding, giving rise to hope for the future of ethical and low environmental impact fashion.

There fermentation, let's face it, is taking over the world stage.It happens in catering, today there is no high-end restaurant that doesn't introduce a pinch of acidity into its menus thanks to fermented foods, but it also happens in fashion.THE'action of bacteria which is the basis of fermentation, in fact, is able to act on foods as much as on elements that may be transformed into textile fibres and, above all, it is something he does without bulk waste of CO2.The bacterial transformation does not pollute and does not produces emissions and, if it were applicable on a large scale, it could represent a turning point for sustainable textiles.In fact, microbial enzymes, which are powerful catalysts, can replace chemical substances during various processing phases, such as dyeing, and be used in the treatment of solid waste and waste water.

The action of bacteria can replace chemical dyes

To date they exist beyond 100 thousand dyes commercially available, almost all synthetic, and 90 percent of our clothes are synthetically dyed:this means dispersion into the environment of substances such as formaldehydes or chlorinated paraffin, which are extremely toxic both for the people who come into contact with them during manufacturing process, and for the environment into which they are inevitably poured and, last but not least, also for the people who wear them.Man has dyed his clothes since ancient times but, before, he did so using exclusively natural dyes which were obtained from plants, insects or molluscs.For example, the color purple, a typical nuance of Roman tunics, was obtained thanks to a pigment extracted from a mollusc, the common murex.He was the British chemist William Henry Perkin to discover the first dye of synthetic origin, in 1856.Furthermore, if the textile industry consumes nine trillion liters of water per year, the dyeing process is responsible for six of them.It goes without saying that returning to a type of dye that is as natural as possible would be good for the environment.

Some microorganisms for example they can produce biopigments and be used instead of synthetic dyes:chemistry takes away, chemistry gives, one might say.In fact, if it was progress from a chemical point of view that introduced the use of synthetic dyes, it will be the discovery of other processes that will make it feasible to use the action of microorganisms to color and fix dye on clothes. Colorifix, for example, is a company that exploits a technique that involves the use of a naturally produced color which is then multiplied by an engineered microorganism.From the color created by an organism in nature:an animal, a plant, an insect or a microbe, the DNA is sequenced, identifying the exact genes that lead to the production of chosen pigment which is then translated into a genetic code that can be reproduced to produce the pigment exactly as it is produced in nature.At this point la enters the process sugar molasses, a by-product of the sugar industry, through which a process of fermentation capable of multiplying the microorganism in question and thus making it usable on a large scale.

Microorganisms and sustainable fashion

The growing awareness of the environmental impact of the textile industry has oriented research towards new sustainable materials to improve environmental performance of products:advances in microbiological science in recent decades, particularly in microbial metabolism, have promoted the development of tissues and biofabricated arising from microorganisms.The biotechnology company Modern Synthesis, for example, has developed a biomaterial from bacterial fermentation that can be used to create an alternative to traditional fabrics for clothing capable of generating a bass carbon impact.The biomaterial in question was developed in the company's London laboratory by cultivating nanocellulose from waste raw materials such as sugars from various sources such as fruit scraps or other agricultural waste:the growing bacteria feed on these sugars, naturally producing nanocellulose.Bacteria, during the fermentation process, in fact, they convert sugar into fibre called nanocellulose, a lightweight material that is eight times stronger than steel, stiffer than Kevlar and capable of bonding to create thin textures:the resulting material is very light and similar to nylon.Producing a textile fiber from food or vegetable waste allows you to reduce carbon emissions and the use of water even compared to natural fibers such as cotton, responsible for enormous water waste.

At the moment the only company that has been able to produce on a large scale thanks to fermentation and has also obtained patents (160) is the Japanese Spiber, producer of a material he called Brewed Protein, or fermented proteins.Brewed Protein, used among others by high-end brands such as At Cold Wall, it is a fiber that is produced through the fermentation of plant-based ingredients and is currently the only one made through a microbial fermentation process available on industrial scale.The initial idea, which gave the impetus for seventeen years of research, was to recreate a material that was similar to the silk created by spiders to make their webs, ideal in terms of lightness and resistance.The initial project then turned to the creation of protein-based fibers based on the fermentation of products of plant origin capable of using the 94 percent less water and reduce environmental damage by 97 percent.

A University of Idaho student made moccasins out of kombucha

There kombucha it's a fermented tea very common in Asia which is obtained from tea, in fact, and from starters called scoby which, essentially, are discs made by colonies of yeast and bacteria.Asiah Brazil-Geyshick, a clothing, textiles and design student atUniversity of Idaho, he made a couple of moccasins, a purse and a wallet, using some dried kombucha scobys she has hand sewn.Materials like these they have several limitations, including the fact that they are not waterproof and above all unstable in contact with water.The student in question treated the scobys with glycerin to make them resistant, but clearly these are prototypes that at the moment could hardly be realistically produced and marketed.This type of experimentation, however, is useful for giving an idea, it must be said, of the ferment around these topics.The textile sector is at a time when it is forced to reinvent itself and those who are truly interested in finding new ways to make fabrics are open to any type of idea, even the most bizarre.