[imagesource:wikicommons]
Vegans are raising a celebratory glass of carrot juice after scientists managed to grow a plastic-free vegan shoe that dyes itself from bacteria. Call it the anti-croc.
The shoe itself looks the way tofu tastes (crappy), but it is a step closer to a more sustainable way of producing animal- and plastic-free clothing. If Crocs can be desirable to some, then crappy can be cool.
Researchers at Imperial College London have genetically engineered bacteria to grow the funky footwear, managing to produce the material and its own pigment simultaneously. Synthetic chemical dyeing is one of the most environmentally toxic processes in fashion, and black dyes—especially those used in colouring leather—are particularly harmful. The researchers at Imperial set out to use biology to solve this.
The researchers say their self-dyeing vegan, plastic-free leather, which has been fashioned into shoe and wallet prototypes, represents “a step forward in the quest for more sustainable fashion”.
The process, which has been published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, could also theoretically be adapted to have bacteria grow materials with various vibrant colours and patterns and to make more sustainable alternatives to other textiles such as cotton and cashmere.
Professor Tom Ellis, from Imperial College London’s Department of Bioengineering, said:
“Inventing a new, faster way to produce sustainable, self-dyed leather alternatives is a major achievement for synthetic biology as bacterial cellulose is inherently vegan, and its growth requires a tiny fraction of the carbon emissions, water, land use and time of farming cows for leather.”
“Unlike plastic-based leather alternatives, bacterial cellulose can also be made without petrochemicals, and will biodegrade safely and non-toxically in the environment.”
The researchers created the self-dyeing leather alternative by modifying the genes of a bacteria species that produces sheets of microbial cellulose—a strong, flexible and malleable material that is already commonly used in food, cosmetics and textiles.
The genetic modifications “instructed” the same microbes that were growing the material to also produce the dark black pigment, eumelanin. They worked with designers to grow the upper part of a shoe (without the sole) by growing a sheet of bacterial cellulose in a bespoke, shoe-shaped vessel. After 14 days of growth, the cellulose took on the correct shape, after which they subjected the shoe to two days of gentle shaking at 30°C to activate the production of black pigment from the bacteria so that it dyed the material from the inside.
As well as the prototypes, the researchers demonstrated that the bacteria can be engineered using genes from other microbes to produce colours in response to blue light. By projecting a pattern, or logo, onto the sheets using blue light, the bacteria respond by producing coloured proteins that then glow.
“The work also shows the impact that can happen when scientists and designers work together. As current and future users of new bacteria-grown textiles, designers have a key role in championing exciting new materials and giving expert feedback to improve form, function, and the switch to sustainable fashion.”
The shoes were made by Modern Synthesis, a London-based bio-design and materials company that specialises in ‘innovative microbial cellulose products’.
We are all for greener approaches to fashion, and I do have a yoghurt tub full of lively Lactobacillus bulgaricus that is just itching to be a handbag. Yeah, science!
[source:phys.org]
