Biobased Innovation as a Fashion and Textile Design Must: A European Perspective

Abstract

Fashion industry investments drive the choice for textile solutions characterized by radical experimentation and a firm commitment to sustainability. In the last five years, textile innovations have been strongly related to biobased textile solutions evolving to become effectively feasible and strategic. The produced qualitative knowledge implementations consider new production patterns, innovative technical and digital know-how, and new consumption scenarios. The directions the industry is tracing may provide new opportunities for future textile development in the circular biobased economy. This paper presents a map of current European practices. It discusses the possible passage through a holistic paradigm that goes beyond the boundaries of the old productive systems to accompany the sector towards a new sustainable and transversal state. It also presents three selected best practices that return the actual context in which the phenomenon occurs. A model is presented to demonstrate how these circular processes of biobased materials production enable more process innovations which are developed through implementing the process itself: companies’ search for rethinking and implementing the traditional practices or designing new ones (as determined by the doctoral research of one of the authors).

The Fashion Industry Needs Microbiology: Opportunities and Challenges

“…Since we live in a climate emergency ( 57 ), all these features can be used for engineering microorganisms and entire microbial communities to reach sustainable goals. However, industrial applications are still in their infancy and further research and pilot projects are needed before a full industrialization can be achieved ( 58 , 59 ).…”

Exploring the intersection of Design and Biology in today’s industry.

“…The first stage of the study is focused on exploring the term 'biomaterials' as this is an often recurring term used to describe materials with some relation to biology. As noted by D'itria and Colombi (2022) it becomes evident that the dimension of the term 'biomaterials' knows a complex nature, and that straightforward terminology fails to explicitly encompass their production, life cycle, and, consequently, their level of sustainability [35]. Since this term is used so often, its origin and reason for existence is questioned at first, after which a broad search is performed on its application-context, both within and outside of the design field.…”

“…As mentioned in literature, the study by D'itria and Colombi (2022) highlights the intricate nature of the term 'biomaterial' and emphasizes that conventional terminology inadequately captures the comprehensive understanding of their production, life cycle, and ultimately, their sustainability level. As this is the case, the methodology applied in this study is hard to replicate, which is in contrast with conventional (semi-)systematic reviewing methods [35]. Nevertheless, all the sources used to draw insights from in this study are disclosed in detail and are available upon request.…”

Implementing Online Product Reviews and Muslim Fashion Innovation for Resilience during the New Normal in Indonesia

“…In Muslim fashion, one commonly-worn mask is called a niqab. Based on interviews with experts, during the pandemic the Muslim fashion industry developed comfort and antivirus materials called "viroblock" materials using biobased innovation [31]. Another example is MFS branded market product designs.…”