英國新創開發藻類塗層 打造會行光合作用的衣服
越來越多的設計師嘗試創造環境友善的時尚，蘑菇、鳳梨和藻類除了做披薩配料，未來還可能成為衣櫃中的要角。
根據衛報報導，「時尚可以造成問題，但也可以是解決方案，」非營利組織「永續角度（Sustainable Angle）」的創始人兼總監妮娜．馬倫慈（Nina Marenzi）說。永續角度每年舉辦未來織品博覽會，推廣綠色紡織品。「我們從材料著手，實現永續發展。如果時尚供應鏈可以改變，我們就能開始解決這個問題。」
永續服裝的洗滌標籤上可能寫著該衣物由鳳梨葉或仙人掌葉製成，永續手提袋則可能是用香蕉樹製成的線編成。蘑菇皮革、藻類T恤，時尚業正在尋找碳足跡較小的替代性材料。最新的成果是用藻類製成的負碳衣服，吸收了空氣中的二氧化碳。
紐約設計師夏洛特．麥卡迪（Charlotte McCurdy）用藻類（具體來說是純素食品常使用的藻粉）製作透明雨衣。她與玻璃工藝師傅合作，找到一種加熱再冷卻藻類，使其變成透明狀的方法。這種材料為負碳排，因為藻類會將碳從大氣中抽出，因此這件雨衣就是碳匯。
她說：「跟著碳的腳步走，它是從哪裡來的？是數百萬年前從大氣中抽出後埋入地下的嗎？我們討論使用材料後會發生什麼事，但很少注意材料從哪裡來。」
根據衛報報導，「時尚可以造成問題，但也可以是解決方案，」非營利組織「永續角度（Sustainable Angle）」的創始人兼總監妮娜．馬倫慈（Nina Marenzi）說。永續角度每年舉辦未來織品博覽會，推廣綠色紡織品。「我們從材料著手，實現永續發展。如果時尚供應鏈可以改變，我們就能開始解決這個問題。」
永續服裝的洗滌標籤上可能寫著該衣物由鳳梨葉或仙人掌葉製成，永續手提袋則可能是用香蕉樹製成的線編成。蘑菇皮革、藻類T恤，時尚業正在尋找碳足跡較小的替代性材料。最新的成果是用藻類製成的負碳衣服，吸收了空氣中的二氧化碳。
紐約設計師夏洛特．麥卡迪（Charlotte McCurdy）用藻類（具體來說是純素食品常使用的藻粉）製作透明雨衣。她與玻璃工藝師傅合作，找到一種加熱再冷卻藻類，使其變成透明狀的方法。這種材料為負碳排，因為藻類會將碳從大氣中抽出，因此這件雨衣就是碳匯。
她說：「跟著碳的腳步走，它是從哪裡來的？是數百萬年前從大氣中抽出後埋入地下的嗎？我們討論使用材料後會發生什麼事，但很少注意材料從哪裡來。」
「Post Carbon Lab」運用相同的原則打造另一個藻類概念產品——會行光合作用的衣服。Post Carbon Lab是倫敦的一家新創公司，開發了光合作用塗層，在織物上塗一層活藻，吸收二氧化碳並釋放氧氣，將碳轉化為糖。來自台灣的共同創始人之一林典蓁說，一件大號T恤材料面積將近一平方公尺，產生的氧氣與六歲的橡樹差不多。
這家新創公司一直在與設計師和產業界合作，將其光合作用塗層轉化為可銷售的產品。林說，這個產品可用於鞋、背包、窗簾、枕頭套、雨傘和建築雨棚。
這種衣服的保養方式與普通衣服完全不同。藻類不危險，只是不能放在黑暗的衣櫥中，它需要光和二氧化碳，因此必須放在通風良好的地方，如椅子的靠背上。「洗衣機會傷害藻類，因此只能小心手洗。「我不建議在內衣上使用這種塗料，但風衣或夾克就可以。」
林和她的共同創始人漢尼斯．赫爾斯塔特（Hannes Hulstaert）正在測試塗層的極限。她說這種塗料可以塗在幾乎所有服裝上，無論是塗整件或局部。林說：「但是當塗層中的藻類對環境不滿意，不喜歡光線或溫度，可能會改變顏色……它們大部分是綠色的；健康的時候是深棕綠色或橙綠色；如果環境不適合，它可能會變成黃色、橙色、棕色、紫色或白色甚至透明。」
其他永續織品包括由鳳梨葉製成、Hugo Boss和H＆M選用的Piñatex；以及用蘑菇材質製成的Mycotex；仙人掌是新興的植物皮革原料，由墨西哥植物皮革公司Desserto所開發。
時尚產業在尋求綠色解決方案上仍有巨大的挑戰，英國每年將約30萬噸的衣服扔進垃圾掩埋場。有研究顯示，全球紡織製造業每年產生12億噸二氧化碳，超過航空公司和航運業的加總。
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Do you have it in green? The living fabrics that can help clean the air
Mushroom, pineapple and algae: it sounds like the topping for a rather unusual pizza. In fact, they could be the crucial ingredients in the wardrobe of the future as growing numbers of designers try to create fashion that doesn’t harm the environment.
Examine a garment’s care label and you may find that it was made out of pineapple stalks or cactus leaves, or a tote bag was woven with thread made from banana trees. From mushroom leather to algae T-shirts, the search is on for alternative materials with smaller carbon footprints. And the latest result are carbon-negative clothes made with algae that absorb carbon dioxide from the air.
“Fashion is part of the problem but it’s also part of the solution,” said Nina Marenzi, founder and director of the Sustainable Angle, a not-for-profit organisation which promotes green textiles at its annual Future Fabric Expo. “We begin with materials and making them sustainable, and if fashion supply chains can change, then we start to address that.”
The New York designer Charlotte McCurdy has made a see-through bioplastic mac using algae – specifically algae powder used in vegan food products. She worked with glass casters to find a way to heat the algae and cool it in a controlled fashion to make it transparent. The material is carbon-negative because the algae draw carbon out of the atmosphere, meaning the coat acts as a carbon sink.
“Follow the carbon – where did it come from?” she said. “Has it come from carbon taken out of the atmosphere millions of years ago and put in the ground? We talk a lot about what happens to materials after we use them, but not where they come from in the first place.”
Post Carbon Lab is using the same principle with another algae prototype – clothes that photosynthesise. The start-up in London has created photosynthesis coating, a layer of living algae on the fabric of garments that absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, turning the carbon into sugar. One large T-shirt – nearly a square metre of material – generates about as much oxygen as a six-year-old oak tree, according to the co-founder Dian-Jen Lin.
The start-up has been working with designers and industry to translate its photosynthesis coating into a marketable product, and Lin said it could be used in shoes, backpacks, curtains, pillow cases, umbrellas and building canopies.
The care instructions were rather different to normal clothes, she said. Wearing algae was not without its perils. “You can’t put it into your dark wardrobe. It needs light and carbon dioxide, so you have to put it in a well-ventilated area, like the back of your chair.” Washing machines would harm the algae, so “it’s handwash only – you have to be a bit careful. I wouldn’t recommend this coating for your underwear but maybe for a windbreaker or a jacket.”
Lin and her co-founder Hannes Hulstaert are testing the limits of the coating, which she says can be applied to almost any garments, either as a full coating or a print. “But it might change colour if it’s really upset, if it didn’t like the light or temperature,” Lin said. “Most of the organisms are in the green shade. In the healthy state they are dark brownish green, orangeish green. When it’s unhappy it might turn yellow, orange, brown, purple or white or transparent.”
However, it seems remarkably resilient. “We’ve had samples for three years which have come back to life,” Lin said.
Other textiles include Piñatex, made from pineapple leaves and used by Hugo Boss and H&M, and Mycotex, a substance grown from mushrooms. Cactus is the next plant-based leather to emerge, the creation of Desserto, a Mexican company that makes leather from leaves.
The challenges facing the fashion industry in its quest to become greener are huge. The UK throws about 300,000 tonnes of clothes into landfill each year, and some studies suggest global textile production creates 1.2bn tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – more than airlines and shipping combined.
Original Article: The Guardian
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