Are Living Clothes in Your Future?

Canadian researcher Roya Aghighi has invented a living, biodegradable fabric called Biogarmentry. It’s made from algae and can purify the air around it – with the purification capabilities – as well as the depth of its green color – increasing over time.

 Would you think about your clothing differently if it were a living thing? Aghighi thinks so. You wouldn’t stuff your dog or cat in a dark closet or put them in a washing machine. Aghighi would like to see a line of clothing that you think about in the same way.

First, some background. Aghighi grew up loving fashion – her mother was a fashion designer.

“I realized that as a designer, I am responsible for what I bring to the world and for creating demands before people know they have a need or even know it is a need,” she said. “At the same time, I felt responsible for understanding the environmental footprint of the textiles industry. I grew up in Tehran where the air pollution gets to the point you can even taste the air in your mouth. I wanted to do something about that as well as the textile waste.”

She set out to find something that could trigger human behaviors and settled on humans’ deep connection to living things.

“Close your eyes and think of your outfit as alive,” she says. “I wanted to use that small guilt trigger to change people’s attitude about clothing. Fast fashion is a systematic approach to programming human behavior. It’s become so cheap and accessible we just buy and buy and buy without thinking twice about it. Research shows that clothes we have are only worn about 20% of their potential life. That simply is not sustainable.”

Aghighi points out that movements promoting recycling or upcycling of clothing can have impact on the end cycle, but that places no focus on the environmental impact of the production process or during their use -- for example, shedding polyester microfibers during the laundering process that end up in just about everything on earth. Or the crazy amount of toxins and chemicals being released in water during the manufacturing, dyeing and finishing textiles that simply isn’t acceptable anymore.

Aghighi started her journey with a multidisciplinary collaboration with a group of biologists and created the first proof of concept for her living and photosynthetic fabric based on algae, Biogarmentry. 

Proof-of-concept Biogarmentry fabric based on algae. 

As the garment is worn more and exposed to sunlight, not only does it photosynthesize, but the algae grows, resulting in the garment changing color and pattern to a deeper green. That’s what we call a temporal pattern.

Following proof of concept, Aghighi engaged with another team to work on enhancing the functionality of the fabric. This second round of research is sponsored by lululemon in collaboration with Netherlands-based Materials Experience Lab. The fabric consists of algae cells embedded within the textile fibers.

“Because of the porosity of the textile,” Aghighi said, “the algae are able to absorb CO₂ and emit oxygen; the CO₂ is their food. But they also need light. If you want to stop the process, you can put it in the dark, but it lowers their longevity.”

Speaking of longevity, that’s the next stage. Aghighi is working with more durable fabrics like cotton and linen.

“What I find beautiful,” she said, “is visually seeing the life cycle from zero to death. It’s an amazing visual cue for people to know how they are caring for their clothes. It starts with no color – white cotton – and grows to beautiful green patches. Toward the end, the whole fabric is completely green and after the garment is deceased, the color is also faded away.”

While the fabric will have a certain life cycle, it can be given more life by either submerging it in water or spraying it with water. Submerging it in water can also get rid of any odor, reducing the need to launder the item.

“As the algae grows, it has a natural scent,” Aghighi said. “That’s another cue that brings a connection between the wearer and nature.”

When will Biogarmetry be commercially available? Likely not for another five to seven years, according to Aghighi.

“This is still in a very early stage,” she said. “There are a lot of improvements being done. I see this as a white space for other creatives to also be able to create and establish new pathways and new ways of thinking and interacting with our environment.”

But she also admits there is a significant amount of market education that needs to take place, both with brands and the consumers. Having more research sponsors could be a huge benefit there.