To tackle climate change, fashion and biotech are combining to make clothes that are grown and breathe like plants
- London’s Post Carbon Lab uses algae and cyanobacteria to form a living layer on fabrics which sucks in carbon dioxide and releases oxygen
- Vollebak’s Plant and Algae T-shirt is grown in forests and labs, and can be buried when no longer wanted where it will break down
What role can fashion play in tackling climate change? A slogan T-shirt here, a recycled swimsuit there? How about harnessing biotechnology to create clothes that suck in carbon dioxide and release oxygen?
That’s the big idea behind Post Carbon Lab, an East London design research studio founded by Dian-Jen Lin and Hannes Hulstaert. Alongside their sustainability consultancy, they provide piloting services of microbial dyeing and a process they call photosynthetic coating, which uses algae and cyanobacteria to form a living layer on fabrics.
While it varies between items, the ballpark figure is that a T-shirt treated with this coating releases as much oxygen in six weeks as a six-year-old tree. However, it’s important to note that this data only reflects the part Post Carbon Lab can measure – that is, when they’re processing the item. Once it’s in the hands of the wearer, it’ll vary according to the care routine.
“Depending on which statistics you use, some people say fashion is the second most polluting industry [in the world], some people say it’s the fourth,” Lin says. “But it’s relevant to anybody who dresses. In that sense, fashion influences almost every single homo sapiens. If you were to use this medium not for negative effects but for a positive one, imagine that scale of influence.”
Lin pauses. Even over Zoom, her passion is palpable. “So that’s what we’re trying to do.”
