Making carbon-neutral clothes out of algae: the designers taking on fast fashion

The fashion industry is a fossil-fuel-guzzling operation as many of our clothes are made from petroleum-based textiles such as polyester. Even natural fibres such as cotton have a huge carbon footprint and require a large portion of the world’s pesticides. In a bid to solve this disastrous environmental equation, scientists and designers are creating completely new textiles from fast-growing, carbon-sucking organisms such as micro- and macro-algae, mycelium (elements of fungus), bacteria and fermented yeast. These new biotechnologies efficiently convert sunlight and CO2 into mass raw materials, suck carbon out of the atmosphere and pave the way to a carbon-negative wardrobe

Dr Mark Liu is from the School of Design at the University of Technology, Sydney. He is collaborating with the Deep Green Biotech Hub to develop textiles made from micro-algae.

Charlotte McCurdy is a global security fellow at the Rhode Island School of Design and has created a carbon-negative raincoat from macro-algae

Subscribe to Guardian Australia ►
Support the Guardian ►

The Guardian ►

The Guardian YouTube network:

The Guardian ► www.youtube.com/theguardian
Guardian News ►
Owen Jones talks ►
Guardian Football ►
Guardian Sport ►
Guardian Culture ►
Guardian Science and Tech ►

fast fashion,fashion industry,fashion industry carbon footprint,fast fashion waste,cheap fashion waste,fast fashion climate change,fashion climate change,charlotte mccurdy,biotechnology fashion,algae textiles,algae fashion,carbon negative textiles,Dr Mark Liu,fashion,environment,science,climate protest,climate,climate change,climate emergency,climate strike,global warming,global heating,world,