Fashion forward: How to combat climate change through clothing (2024)

Traditionally clothes were made from materials sourced from plant and animal, such as cotton, linen and leather, however today clothes are increasingly likely to be made of materials derived from fossil fuel-based crude oils to create polysynthetic fibres like nylon and polyester. These materials do not biodegrade, meaning they are harmful to the environment.

Imperial entrepreneurs have evaluated the materials we use in our clothes and proposed sustainable solutions.

Climate-resilient farming

Cotton is the most widely used natural fibre in the textile industry, with an estimated 27 million tonnes produced annually. Despite its widespread use, the water footprint of cotton is large, requiring between 8,000 and 10,000 litres of water to produce one kilogram of cotton on average, which equates to 2.6% of global water usage – contributing to water scarcity.There is a need for a more sustainable way to grow this material.

Materra are 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, have developed new technology to grow cotton with minimal environmental impact and maximum yields. This technology combines precision agriculture – an approach to farm management that uses data to ensure that crops and soil receive exactly what they need for optimum health and productivity –, environmental control and real-time data tracking.

Over the past two years, the company has been running trials of its technology and farming approach at a test site in Essex. Results from these trials have demonstrated the ability of Materra’s technology to produce extra-long-staple cotton that is pesticide-free, uses 80% less water and fertiliser, and increases yields four-fold.

In early 2021, the company set up its first industrial pilot in Gujarat, India’s largest cotton-growing region with collaborators Fashion for Good, Arvind Limited, Kering and PVH Corp. Through this project, the Materra team will be working closely with farmers on the ground to design and implement their real-time data tracking approach.

Materra was founded by Edward Brial, Edward Hill and John Bertolaso.

Clothes that grow

An Imperial graduate aims to tackle waste caused by disposable fashion with a new solution: 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. Their circular design approach eliminates waste before, during and after use, with garments that grow up to seven sizes.

While he was a student on Imperial’s Global Innovation Design course, founder Ryan Mario Yasin won the James Dyson Award for Petit Pli, an international design award that celebrates, encourages and inspires the next generation of design engineers. While starting off with childrenswear, the team have now branched into sustainable adult wear – such as clothes that grow for those going through pregnancy.

See Also

What Consumers Look For When It Comes To Apparel

Sustainable dye

Founded by recent Chemical Engineering PhD graduates Aida Rafat and Anton Firth, and Professor Jason Hallett, DyeRecycle's innovative technology proposes a new way to colour clothing, sustainably.

DyeRecycle provide a circular chemical technology to decolour textile waste and reuse old dyes. Their patent-pending 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, creating a new, circular source of dyes and reduces the leaching of dyes and chemicals in the fabrics to the soil from landfill. The extracted dyes are robust and the shades and colours in the subsequent dyeing process can be carefully controlled and applied to a range of textures.

The team plan to source their textile waste from London’s large, established sorting houses. Decoloured material could then be sold to textile recyclers and offer a sustainable dying service to London’s 1,500 apparel manufacturers.

The team say that their process leads to an 85% reduction in dyestuff use, a 65% reduction in water footprint, 57% less cumulative energy demand and 70% less global warming potential.

Plant positive textiles

Saltyco is a materials science company that makes planet-positive textiles by actively healing damaged ecosystems through their innovative material supply chain.

The team’s approach to regenerative agriculture focuses on three elements: restoring, context-led farming and steady growth, and involves partnerships with a community of farmers and conservation groups. The agricultural methods the team uses include:

• Conservation agriculture – restoring natural ecosystems by removing invasive crops that dominate local environments, promoting biodiversity and soil health.
• Paludiculture – farming on wetlands, such as rewetted peatlands, bogs and fens.

The team have developed BioPuff, a plant-based fibre fill material designed to keep wearers warm without harming the environment. It is an alternative to animal and petroleum-based products, created by growing plants using regenerative wetland agriculture. The team say 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.

Saltyco is made up of four Imperial graduates who took home a prize at the 2020 Venture Catalyst Challenge, ran by Imperial’s Enterprise Lab, for their initiative – Julian Ellis-Brown, Nelly Taheri, Antonia Jara Contreras and Finlay Duncan.The team recently developed a capsule collection in partnership with fashion brand YOOX, after winning the inaugural Vogue YOOX Challenge in 2020.