Sustainable materials and the promising "greening" future of the fashion village

Following in the footsteps of models on the catwalk, a series of collections have been massively launched into the market and brought to the community as a testament to the strong development of the fashion industry. Contrary to the huge scale and profits of the fashion village, nature has to “go hard” to receive millions of tons of waste annually, as well as continuously provide resources for the production process. However, there is always “light at the end of the tunnel” when we still have the opportunity to “green” the frivolous fashion game with sustainable materials that promise to take over the “kingdom” of material trends in the world. garment industry. Let’s also ELLE take a look at some of the desirable sustainable material inventions that have helped the fashion world step closer to sustainable values in the future.

Sustainable materials and the promising “greening” future of the fashion village

Graduating from Parsons Academy and having worked for big names like Alexander Wang and Peter Do , designer Uyen Tran has always been “burning” with the idea of a biological project that can solve the waste problems for the fashion industry. home page. “The world is running out of raw materials, so I want to repurpose these wastes into a new, accessible biomaterial in everyday life to help people better understand the problem and contribute to the future. make a change”, shared the designer from Da Nang.

Inspired by familiar materials that few people think about, shrimp shells and coffee grounds, she created Tomtex – this hard and flexible bio-material that can replace animal skin and easily create new products. patterns through 3D printing or crafting with clay. Tomtex material also possesses effective water resistance thanks to the beeswax layer on the surface.

Said to be one of the world’s most eco-friendly materials, soybean fabrics are, as their name suggests, woven from the very residue of soybean residue through a process that uses the minimum of chemicals. toxic chemicals. Although it first appeared in 1941 under the great invention of Henry Ford, it was not until 2003 that soy fabric became popular and received public approval when concerns about the garment industry and the environment has peaked. Containing proteins derived from soybean pods, this material has high elasticity, excellent pleating ability as well as excellent breathability. Therefore, soy fiber is gradually becoming popular in the production of sportswear and tight clothing for women.

Sequins are an integral part of the design as it creates the glitz and glamor of fashion outfits. But in fact, the fact that a design, whether normal or haute couture , requires hundreds of thousands of microplastics that affect the environment, will make you think again about “favoring” them. Aware of that, some famous designers like Iris Van Herpen have used sequins made from plastic waste for their latest collection to reduce sequin consumption in apparel. However, according to some experts, this is not considered an effective method when the amount of plastic is not reduced, but only converted from one state to another.

Realizing the importance of environmentally friendly materials after training courses in many countries, Elissa Brunato has launched Bio Iridescent Sequin which is 100% derived from cellulose and is biodegradable in garden soil. With iridescent rainbow colors from the unique nanostructure and no color dependence, this is perhaps a breakthrough alternative to the vibrant sequin designs of the fashion industry in the future. After 2 years of research and development of ideas, two Mexican boys – Adrián López Velarde and Marte Cázarez have contributed significantly to the process of “greening” the fashion industry when launching vegan leather materials made from Cactus. By grinding and drying cactus leaves in the sun, then mixing them with a number of non-toxic chemicals, the leather material is both biodegradable and gives a “real” feel. no different than animal skins have been made.

With a shelf life of up to 10 years and production costs equivalent to conventional leather goods, this will be an effective solution to meet the demand for sustainable materials of fashion houses. Realizing the pitiful trade-off when more and more animals are killed to serve the luxury and frivolity of the fashion industry, Beyond Leather has sought inspiration from the leftover materials in the production process. juice and cider production in Denmark. Specifically, the core and skin of apples, which are discarded, are now fully utilized by grinding and mixing with natural rubber. They are then applied to a textile base made of cotton or wood fibers to create a finished product with a flexible, removable 3-layer structure. Not only does it emit 85% less CO2 than the traditional leather manufacturing process, it also solves the problem of food waste in a very effective way.

With the vegan wave “dominating” the trend of garment materials, it is believed that artificial leather will partly solve the problem of ethics in fashion. However, due to the nature of being made of synthetic fibers, decomposing them is as much of a problem as ordinary plastic materials. So, six years ago, two companies MycoWorks and Ecovative Design found a technology to make leather from mushrooms by taking advantage of mycelium – a plant with a structure similar to tree roots. As they grow, they intertwine to form a membrane that mimics real skin. In particular, this process takes only a few short weeks compared to the years of keeping animals in captivity to get the skins.

Officially participating in the recycling race, on the occasion of the brand’s 100th anniversary , Gucci has launched a new design of sneakers made with recycled Demetra material . Produced in the fashion house’s own factory in Italy, Demetra was developed based on the original tanning method but with softer and more durable properties. In addition to being resistant and adaptable to many types of weather, this material is also used flexibly for many different product lines of the fashion house such as Gucci Basket, Gucci New Ace and Gucci Rhyton.