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The Nature of Fashion Designing for True Circularity and Biological Systems Beth Rattner, Executive Director Megan Schuknecht, Senior Biomimicry Professional May 20, 2020

The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

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Page 1: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

The Nature of Fashion

Designing for True Circularity and Biological Systems

Beth Rattner, Executive DirectorMegan Schuknecht, Senior Biomimicry ProfessionalMay 20, 2020

Page 2: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

Catch and Release• Natural materials cycle endlessly. Nature cannot distinguish

between good molecules and bad, nor can their movement be stopped.

• The essence of the second law of thermodynamics is that disorder increases over time. This means nature disperses.

• A global net helps nature capture valuable (dispersed) building blocks.

• Primary producers, consumers, and decomposers make the system possible

• Matter and energy are inextricably linked.

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 2

Page 3: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

Catch and Release• Natural materials cycle endlessly. Nature cannot distinguish

between good molecules and bad, nor can their movement be stopped.

• The essence of the second law of thermodynamics is that disorder increases over time. This means nature disperses.

• A global net helps nature capture valuable (dispersed) building blocks.

• Primary producers, consumers, and decomposers make the system possible

• Matter and energy are inextricably linked.

The outermost loop is always the biosphere: air, water, and soil.

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 3

Page 4: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

Nature’s Dynamic Equilibrium

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 4

Page 5: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

The Problem with Plastics

• Clothing made from recycled polyester terephthalate (rPET) still contains toxic chemicals not meant to go next to human skin.

• rPET is lower quality and degrades over time.

• “Perpetual plastic” is a false narrative

• rPET is still plastic and shed microfibers pose a huge threat to marine ecosystems.

• Plastics/clothing collection at scale and mechanical sorting of textiles are both challenging

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 5

Page 6: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

The Problem with Plastics

• Clothing made from recycled polyester terephthalate (rPET) still contains toxic chemicals not meant to go next to human skin.

• rPET is lower quality and degrades over time.

• “Perpetual plastic” is a false narrative

• rPET is still plastic and shed microfibers pose a huge threat to marine ecosystems.

• Plastics/clothing collection at scale and mechanical sorting of textiles are both challenging

Nature doesn’t sort; it disperses.

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 6

Page 7: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

Current Fashion System

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 7

Page 8: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

Moving to a Regenerative System

1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems

2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste

3. Fermentation

Cleaning up

4. Chemical recycling

5. Gasification + fermentation

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 8

Page 9: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

Biomimetic Fashion System

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 9

Page 10: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

Levers for Change

1. Invest in local cycles - Repair and upgrade equipment

- Catalog regional waste streams

- Create industrial symbioses

- Send the pattern, not the clothes

- Focus on the whole value chain

2. Build regenerative agricultural cycles - Conservation pays

- Cluster fiber research and demand

- Fund new research - Create new funding vehicles

3. Incentivize creation of new biomaterials - Biomimetic biomaterials - “ComPost Modern” design challenge - Advance the knowledge commons

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 10

Page 11: The Nature of Fashion · 2020-05-27 · 1. Regenerative farm and fiber systems 2. Cellulosic feedstocks, including agricultural waste 3. Fermentation Cleaning up 4. Chemical recycling

Beth Rattner

[email protected]

Megan Schuknecht

[email protected]

Fashion as an Ecosystem | The Biomimicry Institute 11

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