Fabric Trends For 2023/2024FALL/WINTER -About Sustainability And Innovation
July 29,2022
With climate emergencies and a growing vegan mindset, bio-manufactured materials are becoming increasingly popular with consumers. Biotechnology innovators and early brand operators are bringing biomanufacturing materials to market as a means of creating innovative, renewable alternatives to plastic and animal products, bringing an exuberant blend of surreal and futuristic to fall/winter 2023 design.
Bio-based (bioderived) materials:
Includes materials made in whole or in part from biomass (trees, plants and animals), including natural fibers, animal leathers, leather substitutes made from plants, artificial cellulose, and polymers made from plants or animals. All are the best animal-free alternatives for clothing fabrics.
Biofabricated (biofactory) materials:
Algae and bacterial dyes are being brought to market by early adopter brands and innovators. These include animal collagen and cells, bacteria, yeast, mycelium and microalgae, forming silk, fur, foam or leather-like materials. And algae such as microalgae, seaweed and kelp need only light, carbon dioxide and water to grow quickly, while algae absorb carbon dioxide and create oxygen as they grow, turning apparel fabrics into photosynthetic carbon reducers, as well as bioplastics and foams, and toxic microalgae flowers that can be diverted from waterways to reverse water pollution.
Bioassembled material:
Including mycelial growth, cultured animal cells or fermented bacteria can be processed into leather-like materials that make great fabrics for fall and winter clothing. This leather-like or composite material can be customized by color, embossing and thickness to meet the garment production needs of most garment manufacturing industries.
Biosynthetic:
Synthetic polymers made in whole or in part from bio-based compounds, either from biomass and/or from living microorganisms (also known as biosynthesis).
Common certifications and standards
STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® is one of the world's best-known labels for textiles tested for harmful substances. It stands for customer confidence and high product safety. The Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex product label, introduced (as Oeko-Tex Standard 100) in 1992, certifies adherence to the specifications of the standard by the same name, a document of testing methods and limits values for potentially harmful chemicals. This independent testing and certification system may be applied to textile materials, intermediate products at all stages of production and ready-made textile articles. Examples of eligible items for certification are raw and dyed finished yarns, raw and dyed finished fabrics and knits, and consumer goods (all types of clothing, home and household textiles, bed linen, terry cloth items, textile toys and more)