London-based designer Suzanne Lee is a senior research fellow at the School of Fashion & Textiles at Central Saint Martins, who designs clothing out of bacteria. Yup, that's right. For her process, she uses a blend of bathtubs, yeast, bacteria and sweetened green tea. The end product resembles dried animal skin.
Suzanne Lee is part of a research project called BioCouture, which strives to address sustainability in the fashion industry by using a laboratory-grown bacterial cellulose.
Bacterial Fabric
Suzanne Lee "Grows" Whacked-Out Garments from Microbes
Trend Themes
1. Bacterial Textiles - The use of bacteria to create textiles is a disruptive innovation opportunity for the fashion industry
2. Sustainable Fashion - Using laboratory-grown bacterial cellulose presents a disruptive innovation opportunity for sustainable fashion practices
3. Bio-based Materials - The use of microbial cellulose in creating textiles and fashion presents a disruptive innovation opportunity for the development of bio-based materials
Industry Implications
1. Fashion - The fashion industry can benefit from using sustainable and bio-based materials in their products such as those produced with bacterial cellulose
2. Biotechnology - Bacteria-based fabric research can create new opportunities for the biotechnology sector to develop sustainable and bio-based materials
3. Textile - Developing microbial cellulose for textile production presents an opportunity to disrupt the textile industry and reduce its environmental impact