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Timothy Parent

Fashion and innovation have always gone hand in hand.
It was the invention of the Jacquard loom in 1801 with its system of punch cards, designed to weave brocades and other patterns, that laid the foundation for modern-day computers.
That innovation was brought in to democratise materials and make intricate work cheaper. However, the trend of making clothes less expensive throughout history eventually created the extreme throwaway culture of today, which pollutes twice – once when clothes are made, and again when they are discarded.
Will the 2020s be the decade in which fashion and technology come together to finally address the problems of want and waste?

The main function of technology in the fashion industry in the past two decades has been to bring fashion online.
Consumers can shop whenever they like. They find inspiration (and envy) on social media. The instant – and incessant – nature of information in the digital age has made fashion ubiquitous.
Targeted ads follow consumers, as their preferences and emotions are deduced and commoditised. Fashion now moves at unsustainable speed.

Not all future technologies will be a double-edged sword for fashion, though. The material innovations and technology being developed today have the potential to transform the industry. Perhaps along with these innovations in technology will come a new era of fashion that will shift the conversation about the value and values of technology and fashion.
These companies making a difference with their innovative approaches.

Bolt Threads is on a mission to “create better materials for a better world”, and it has two such materials under its belt already – Mylo leather and Microsilk.
Mylo is a leather-like material made from mycelium, which is a part of a fungus. Its threadlike cells make it a supple, durable and biodegradable material. The company can grow Mylo in days, saving time and the land, resources, livestock and chemicals needed, and the waste produced, to create leather or its synthetic substitutes.
Microsilk is also biodegradable and is made by bioengineering yeast to produce silk proteins through a fermentation process. After spinning and knitting the fibres, the material demonstrates properties of silk, such as elasticity, durability and softness. Both materials have been used by brands such as Stella McCartney to design beautiful, sustainable and ethical fashion.

Tencel is a brand of lyocell and modal fibres derived from the pulp of sustainably harvested trees. The fibres are natural, soft, strong, sustainable and certified as compostable and biodegradable. Refibra recycling technology designed by the company that makes Tencel uses cotton scraps to make pulp for new fibres.
The company, Lenzing, has recently begun the second phase of a project using Refibra that will allow it to retool the Tencel production process so that half the pulp needed to make the fibres will come from recycled waste by 2024.
Tencel fibres are used by fashion brands including Levi’s, Banana Republic, Eileen Fisher, Patagonia and Reformation, and Lenzing wants consumers to be part of the push to reduce waste by checking the labels of clothes they are considering buying to see what they are made of.
“Like everyone, [consumers] see the news about global warming, waste issues, microplastics, water pollution and so on. However, it is not easy to translate this to what kind of apparel or other products you [should] buy,” says Harold Weghorst, global vice-president of branding at Lenzing. “This is where we need to create more transparency and accountability.
“Tencel-branded products provide exactly this. We hope that consumers will be more conscious in their fashion shopping behaviour and we invite them to look at the label, like they already do when buying food products. The labels on fashion products needs to show clearly what the clothes are made of and how sustainable this is.”

Spanish manufacturer Tejidos Royo’s Dry Indigo fabric promises nothing short of a fashion revolution.
The company aims to create the most sustainable material in the world – and it’s well on its way, with a process that uses no water, 65 per cent less electricity and 90 per cent fewer chemicals than traditional fabric production methods.
This is no small feat when you consider that making a pair of jeans with conventional systems uses the same amount of water as a typical adult drinks in seven years.
Mass-market fashion brands such as Banana Republic, Wrangler, and Lee all use dyed fibres from the Spanish manufacturer to make their jeans. So far, the manufacturer, brands and consumers have collectively saved 1 million litres of water.

Footfalls & Heartbeats is taking wearables to the next level by turning textiles into sensors. The most practical application of wearable technology is in promoting health and well-being, but few such products have been embraced by the public.
Footfalls & Heartbeats’ patented knitting technique allows it to avoid embedding electronics in fabric, meaning clothes themselves can become sensors. In 2021, this is expected to manifest in shoes and garments that can sense pressure and detect strain.
These advances will make users healthier and more informed, and encourage people to reconsider what fashion is and what it can become.

Vega Zaishi Wang, a Chinese fashion designer inspired by nature, considers the intersection of fashion, technology and sustainability from a slightly different perspective.
She believes technology, such as electroluminescent (EL) panels, can be used to create new emotional experiences and change the way people relate to clothes.


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Met Gala 2025: celebrities from Bad Bunny and Sabrina Carpenter, to Sydney Sweeney and Blackpink’s Lisa and Jennie graced the red carpet in looks celebrating Black men’s style and tailoring

Fashion

Five ways technology is changing fashion, by making it more sustainable and altering our thinking about clothes

Microsilk is used by brands such as Stella McCartney to design beautiful, sustainable and ethical fashion.

Multi-sensory exhibition by Chinese designer Vega Wang at UCCA in Beijing

TENCEL TM Luxe Lyocell gebrandetes Filament-Garn - Lenzing AG Foto: Neumayr/MMV 9.10.2017

A knitting lab at Footfalls & Heartbeats

DRY INDIGO denim made without using water by Spanish Company Tejidos Royo

The making of Microskilk (Bolt Threads)

A bag made with Mylo leather (Bolt Threads)

TENCEL™ branded lyocell and modal fibers are produced by environmentally responsible processes from the sustainably sourced natural raw material wood. TENCEL™ fibers are found in the collections of many leading designers and renowned retailers.

How do you address the problem of sustainability in fashion? Technology might be the key – from denim made with no water to a biodegradable silk that’s used by brands like Stella McCartney.

Fabulous frocks: Chinese artist takes fashion to its extremes with wearable art for a cause – ‘maybe people say I’m crazy’

Kong Ning in a dress made of blue pinwheels in Beijing in 2017. She created this dress in the hope the wheels would blow the smog away.

Artist Kong Ning wearing a leaf dress

Artist Kong Ning wears inflatable doves which in New York times square in remembrance of 911 tragedy

Artist Kong Ning wearing a dress made of pictures

A painting by Kong Ning

Chinese artist Kong Ning prepares to display her latest art piece, Iceberg, at the Central Business District (CBD) area in downtown Beijing on Thursday Dec. 5, 2019, calling for people to pay attention to climate change and melting icebergs in the world. Kong Ning, a Beijing artist born in 1958, has made many works calling for environmental protection. She will display this Iceberg art work in her future South America trip. 05DEC19 SCMP/Simon Song

Artist Kong Ning in one of her get-ups

Kong Ning, a 62-year-old artist from Inner Mongolia, China, creates dresses that highlight pressing issues – such as this dress made of red masks she designed to raise awareness of global warming. The red masks represent people feeling hot and burned.

Actress Maggie Q feels ‘sick about fast fashion’. What she, Meghan Markle, designers and fellow celebrities are doing to make fashion more sustainable

Actress Maggie Q is one of a growing number of celebrities and designers who are promoting sustainable fashion. Photo: Shutterstock

A look from Vin + Omi spring/summer 2020 collection (London-September 2019)

A silk jumpsuit from British designer Zoe Corsellis

This combination of photos released by w.r.yuma shows Belgian designer Sebastiaan de Neubourg, left, and a collection of frames made from recycled materials. De Neubourg uses recycled plastic bottles, car dashboards and refrigerators for sunglasses for his brand, w.r.yuma.

Paloma Faith attends 2019 Comic-Con International "Pennyworth" Press Room at Hilton Bayfront, San Diego, CA on July 19 2019

Stella McCartney spring/summer 2020 show in Paris (October 2019)

Actress Maggie Q is one of a growing number of celebrities and designers who are promoting sustainable fashion. Photo: SCMP

High-quality, sustainable, made to order: vegan K-fashion brand’s clothes draw non-vegan customers

Not Ours does not use any animal products and sources animal-friendly alternatives for their goods. Its first design was a fake fur coat, made from synthetic fur-like material.

“Slogan Organic T-shirt” is made from 100 percent organic cotton and Polyvinyl chloride-free ink eliminating the use of harmful chemicals.

A picture of a Thinsulate Reversible Liner Jacket, which is an alternative to a down jacket with its organic compound fiber for thermal insulation.

The co-founders of the brand Shin Ha-na, left, and Park Jin-young pose for pictures in shirts from their brand.

The brand's 2018 project Everyday Bag is a simple tote bag made with Polyurethane which is highly resistant to wear and tear.

A picture of “This is real Fake Leather” series Proper Wallet, which is made with 100 percent polyurethane for a leather-look exterior and polyester for the lining.

Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

Lists


Fashion has struggled with sustainability and created many problems that it is now trying to fix through technology
Advances in fabric production stand to dramatically reduce resource use and waste, while other advances will make clothes more useful and playful



Yarn made from trees and recycled cotton waste, a silk equivalent bio-engineered from yeast, a shoes that detect pressure – technology is helping make fashion more sustainable and multi-functional.


Green living

Conservation

Start-ups

Environment

Five ways technology is changing fashion, by making it more sustainable and altering our thinking about clothes

Fashion has struggled with sustainability and created many problems that it is now trying to fix through technology Advances in fabric production stand to dramatically reduce resource use and waste, while other advances will make clothes more useful and playful

Fashion has struggled with sustainability and created many problems that it is now trying to fix through technology

Advances in fabric production stand to dramatically reduce resource use and waste, while other advances will make clothes more useful and playful