Japanese biotechnology startup Spiber has come up with a pioneering proprietary fermentation technology.
- The objective of Spiber's groundbreaking initiative—the biosphere circulation programme—is to propel society towards the creation of fully circular textile products that can be regenerated into an innovative protein material known as ‘Brewed Protein’ at the end of their lifecycle.
- It employs cutting-edge synthetic biology, polymer science, and material science for the development of the novel Brewed Protein materials made from plant-based sugars utilising microbial fermentation technology.
WHAT ARE BREWED PROTEIN FIBRES: Brewed Protein fibres are lab-grown, plant-derived, circular materials made through a proprietary microbial fermentation process.
- The fibres are a compelling solution to the growing demands of animal and petrochemical-free fibres to address numerous pressing environmental issues and risks.
- The potential environmental impact of a forward-looking Brewed Protein fibre production plan was found to be significantly smaller than cashmere and merino wool, largely due to the lower environmental impacts of inputs for Brewed Protein polymer production (primarily plant crops and renewable electricity) when compared to livestock farming for cashmere and wool production.
- Production scale has been growing and Brewed Protein fibres, yarns, and fabrics are now available for purchase at commercial scale.
THE COLLABORATION: In support of this vision, Spiber's long-term partners Pangaia and Goldwin have joined the programme in their bid to catalyse the transition from a linear "take-make-use-dispose" model to a circular "take-make-use-reuse" model.
- The brands will support Spiber to accumulate valuable data and develop a comprehensive product design guideline that enables the decomposition of garments into biological nutrients, which can then be used as resources for production of upcycled materials.
- Furthermore, the brands will contribute to the advancement of product design guidelines applicable to a wide range of garment types, promoting industry-wide adoption of this sustainable approach.
- As a first step, Spiber has worked with Goldwin to create a demonstration product to identify potential challenges that need to be solved in order to further develop the guideline to design a fully circular final product that the fashion industry can comply with.
BUILDING A PLATFORM: Knowledge of what has been used to make products—from raw material to consumer goods—is critical for circularity at end-of-use.
- Spiber has created a demonstration webpage where users can access detailed breakdown information of materials and chemicals used to make the product.
- This webpage is just a glimpse into the company's vision for building a platform to enable their circularity solution through transparent access to data to enable verification of whether a product is or is not "digestible to nutrients" at end-of-use.
- The first demo product produced by Goldwin and made to identify the challenges of producing compliant products designed to be digestible for microbial fermentation, was revealed at Future Fabrics Expo in London on 26 June.
- The demonstration product is being prominently displayed at Innovation Hub at Future Fabrics Expo in London, UK, from 26-28 June.
THE CHALLENGES: To make this demo product compatible with biosphere circulation, the garment was assembled with cotton thread in place of polyester thread. This change may slightly impact the performance of the product, as cotton thread doesn't have the same stretch, strength, and performance properties as polyester thread. This may cause the shirt to be slightly more prone to wear and tear around the neckline and sleeves at the seams.
- There are challenges to circulating chemically processed and coloured textiles. The chemicals and colorants must be identifiable when textiles reach end-of-use, and they must be confirmed to not hinder the "degradation to nutrient" process.
- Current research efforts are focused to identify the types of chemicals and colorants that are acceptable with the process.
THE BACKDROP: It is critical to confront resource depletion issues and establish a comprehensive circulation model and infrastructure across the industry. The textile industry faces a challenge with textile recycling, with less than 1% of discarded textiles being recycled for new textile applications.
- Recognising the challenges involved in end-use textile recycling, Spiber has dedicated significant resources to develop a comprehensive circulation infrastructure aiming for commercialisation in the long term.
- The company has been testing various types of fibres, dyes, and processing chemicals that are used to make apparel products in order to verify what can be efficiently digested into nutrients.
- This information is being used to inform the development of requirements for textile products which will be published in the near future to ensure that the industry has the tools needed to adopt this innovative process.
WHAT THEY SAID:
Pangaia is delighted to explore the next phase of its partnership with Spiber by joining its biosphere circulation project. At Pangaia, we are focused on accelerating the development and broader adoption of problem-solving technologies and materials into the fashion industry. This project aligns perfectly with those goals and our research focuses by tackling one of the industry's biggest and most complex issues—waste.
— Craig Smith
Research & Development Director
Pangaia
