An initiative to establish a system for creating fully circular textile products by using fermentation technology to turn biobased and biodegradable textile waste into new materials has received a boost with four leading textile/fashion entities joining the project.
- The primary objective of this project is to propel society towards the creation of fully circular textile products that can be regenerated at an industrial scale into Japanese biotechnology startup Spiber’s Brewed Protein materials at the end of their lifecycle.
- Kering, Eileen Fisher Inc, Johnstons of Elgin and DyStar will join the project following Goldwin and Pangaia, who began participating in June 2023. These collaborations aim to catalyse the transition from a linear “take-make-use-dispose” model to a circular “take-make-use-reuse” model.
- The new partnerships were announced at the Biofabricate Paris Summit last week.
- Established in September 2007, Spiber Inc utilises cutting-edge synthetic biology, polymer and material science for the development of its novel Brewed Protein materials made from plant-based sugars with microbial fermentation technology.
The work: The brands’ participation will provide multi-faceted support to Spiber, including the supplying of samples for Spiber’s lab-scale testing.
- The samples that brands supply may require custom production by their respective supply chain partners, as the textile samples must be composed of specific fibres processed with key types of textile chemicals.
- Lab-scale testing of these and other materials will enable accumulation of valuable data for Spiber to analyse and help determine how various types of textile chemicals, like finishing agents and colorants, affect the conversion of cellulose and protein-based materials into nutrients that can be used in the fermentation process, such as sugars and amino acids.
- Spiber intends to compile the results from this testing into a database that will indicate the efficiency of different materials in combination with textile chemicals when converted into nutrients for fermentation.
- This database will then serve as a resource for the industry to refer to when designing products for circularity, and products which will be compatible with circularity solutions such as Spiber’s biosphere circulation system in the future.
- In 2023, Spiber’s biosphere circulation project published principles for product design to offer the industry a framework for creating products that are compatible with circularity solutions. In addition, Spiber and biosphere circulation project brand participants began testing and analysing combinations of fibres and key textile chemicals to determine how various types of chemicals affect the conversion of cellulose and protein-based fibres into nutrients for fermentation as an initial step.
The project: Spiber’s biosphere circulation project aims to enable a materials circulation ecosystem in which biobased waste, such as agricultural residues or natural fibre components of discarded textiles, can be broken down into “nutrients” (sugars and amino acids) and used as feedstock to produce materials via fermentation, including Brewed Protein materials.
- The Brewed Protein fibres are lab-grown, plant-derived, circular materials made through a proprietary microbial fermentation process.
- The fibres are meant to be a compelling solution to the growing demands of animal- and petrochemical-free fibres to address numerous pressing environmental issues and risks.
Spiber has recently increased the production volume of these new materials, and Brewed Protein fibres are now available for commercial-scale purchase internationally.
