Susan Lee Bio-Couture

Susan Lee is a senior research fellow in the school of fashion / textiles, central saint martins, london.
she is also the creative director of biocouture which investigates the growth of clothing through the use of
bacterial cellulose.
This video is showing how she do to grow clothing using bateria, amazing !

Fibres, their cultivation and production

Textiles can be made from many materials; from :

Natural fibres

Animal
-Hair (wool, mohair, cashmere,angora)
-Silk/protein (silk)
-Hide (leather, fur)

Vegetable
-Seed/cotton
-Stem/blast fibers (flax, hemp, jute, nettle, ramie, abbaca
-Leaf (sisal, coir, pineapple, pinukpok)

Man-made fibres

Vegetable
-Protein (corn starch, biofibre, goat milk)
-Rubber
-Paper
-Alginate
-Cellulosic (viscose)

Mineral
-Petrochemical (polyester, polyamide, PVC,PU, polyethylene, polypropylene)
-Carbon
-Metal
-Glass
-Ceramic

Life cycle of cotton

Cotton Fox Fiber (genetically modify to be white)

Cotton growing and harvesting - cleaning raw cotton - cotton fiber spinning - yarn weaving/ yarn knitting - wet treatment - sewing - transport and sales - use and laundry - disposal

Life cycle of polyester

polyester manufacturing - spinning - weaving - wet treatment - sewing - transport and sales - use and laundry - disposal
The spinning for the polyester is different than the cotton and the polyester is dye in different way.

The main difference between cotton and polyester is
Cotton is from agriculture it is a natural fiber, create organic waste so cotton cam grow again.
But there is problems with the dye, the cotton is dye with synthetic dye.
polyester is from industry it is a synthetic fiber so the polyester can be recycled.

Most of garment are composed of a mix between polyester and cotton that make textile waste.

polyester recycling - repolymerisation
eco-circle 84% less energy, 77%less co2 emissions