Biofabricate

"Biology can show us how to create beauty and functionality with minimal resources and efficient design, all within a regenerative ecosystem. The Biofabricate Summit is a unique place to discover these and many other future innovations that will transform the fashion industry in the decades to come!" Our CEO Suzanne Lee’s career, from her background in fashion design, to founding Biofabricate is one of passion and inspiration. In a recent interview with Pearls magazine, she shared her experiences in biomaterial innovation and her insights into the future of a new generation of materials in creating a more sustainable fashion industry. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eyR9UgPb #SustainableFashion #BioInnovation #DesignMeetsBiology #Biomaterials #FashionDesign

Once again, The Sustainable Angle team delivered a fantastic #FutureFabricsExpo in London this week. A big shout-out to Nina Marenzi, Amanda Johnston, Claire Jacqueline Weiss and the rest of the team - we know how much hard work goes into it. And, as always, wonderful to see so many bio innovators represented in the mix! The Future Fabrics Expo is an uplifting and positive event. This year it felt in stark contrast to the downcast mood at the Global Fashion Summit where the industry realised how little has been achieved and was sobered by the work left to do. As a counterpoint to this, talk at FFE was of collective action and moving beyond paralysis to find concrete solutions now. There is increasing talk of consolidation and collaboration, looking to how brands can set clear goals for manufacturers and innovators alike to reduce churn and help things move faster. This is alongside the vital discussion of who is going to pay for the work needed in the supply chain and help smooth the premiums that come with new materials. Questions surround the role of government in all of this, as well as the impact of legislation and EPR (extended producer responsibility). All of the above was perfectly coupled with the launch of the “Next Gen to This Gen: Scaling Material Innovations in the Fashion Sector” report by Sustainabelle Advisory Services. Backed by a survey of 157 stakeholders and 62 expert interviews highlights: “Key drivers, including regulatory pressures, risks to traditional supply chain, consumer demand and ambitious impact targets, are propelling brands to embrace these materials with more urgency.” But most importantly, it reveals how “lessons from climate tech sectors like solar and electric vehicles suggest a similar growth trajectory for Next Gen materials for fashion and show us the way to move forward.” Because if we can subsidise fossil fuels why can’t we substitute sustainable materials?! Finally, but most importantly the report points to the steps that can and need to be taken, because in the words of author Christine Goulay, “we need to find a way to make next-gen materials this gen", we can’t afford to wait! Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/gyg-khEe #FFE #bioinnovation #nextgen #materialinnovation #sustainablematerials #sustainableinnovation #sustainablefashion #thisisthefuture #climate #London #EPR #fashion #textiles

Be sure to check out Sustainabelle Advisory Services important new report launched today on Next Generation materials for the fashion industry: vital insights for understanding how to mitigate today's challenges and leverage tomorrow's opportunities. Biofabricate was happy to contribute, and thank Christine Goulay, Kering and the Laudes Foundation for continuing to show industry leadership supporting this work for the benefit of all.

Do you want to learn more about our mission to redefine the future of materials through biology? This recent interview with our CEO Suzanne Lee for Hube Magazine explores the existing and future possibilities of biotechnology to develop next generation materials for the fashion industry and beyond -  https://lnkd.in/gREDMK6u “The reason for embracing biology boils down to its amazing efficiency as a technology. Biology operates in an incredibly resourceful way – it takes only what it needs and gives back to the ecosystem. This efficiency has the potential to significantly reduce the resources required for various processes – raw materials, water, land and energy. Many innovators in this field are motivated by the goal of minimising environmental impact and even promoting regeneration. It’s about ensuring that materials and technologies contribute more to the ecosystem than they take away.” #SustainableInnovation #Biomaterials #Biotechnology #FutureFashion #FashionDesign

Today is #WorldEnvironmentDay and this year’s focus is land restoration, halting desertification and building drought resilience. “According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, up to 40 per cent of the planet’s land is degraded, directly affecting half of the world’s population.”(United Nations) The impact of healthy soil and ecosystems cannot be overstated. Their degradation affects everything. It is being felt most by the least fortunate and is the driving force pushing 1 million species to extinction (UN). It is also an economic issue, causing food scarcity and prices to soar. And perhaps most importantly it is exacerbating the already monumental impacts of climate change. Soil is an unsung superhero - did you know that one spoon of healthy soil contains more microbes than there are humans on the planet?! When you take this in conjunction with the fact we have only discovered 0.001% of all species on earth - just imagine what we have yet to discover in the world’s soil and what we’ll lose if it continues to degrade. However, biology has an incredible ability to heal itself and some amazing bio innovators in our network are collaborating with it to bring restorative solutions to the fore. Here’s a shout out to just a handful of them: Ponda Bio is regenerating wetlands in the process of producing BioPuff®. Did you know that “peatlands are naturally some of the oldest and most healing environments on our planet. They’re estimated to hold over 40% of all soil carbon, twice as much as all forests in the world combined.” (Ponda) Mycocycle, Inc. uses the “natural functions of fungi to transform construction waste into low-carbon raw materials for the built environment.” Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. has an entire program dedicated to utilising biotechnology to tackle some of agriculture's biggest issues. If you want to learn more about World Environment Day and how you can get involved follow this link: https://lnkd.in/eFcSiba #generationrestoration #soilhealth #resoration #climatechange #climatesolutions #biofabrication #bioremediation #microbes #soil #fungi #synbio #bioinnovation

Ecovative - the mycelium technology company’s announcement of acclaimed British designer Patrick McDowell as Global Brand Ambassador for Forager mycelium materials recognises the need to engage designers to shine a spotlight on material innovations. Stella McCartney has notably been doing this for the longest time. Designers hold the power. Typically brand buy-in on material innovation is led by the sustainability teams, but designers are the final decision-makers on whether a particular material will be included in the collection. And sourcing teams, merchandisers and buyers can make or break the push to market. Engaging with designers can be tricky. If the material is not sufficiently advanced fatigue can set in, making it hard to re-engage. Critically, BEFORE you worry about getting designers to work with the finished material, you need designers in the lab helping to DEVELOP a material that will excite the market. A design-led approach in the development of biomaterials ensures the viability of new-generation materials to meet their creative and functional needs. Are you a designer passionate about or working with biomaterials? What do you want from the new generation of materials? We’d love to hear your thoughts below. #SustainableFashion #BiomaterialInnovation #FashionDesigner #FashionDesign #Biomaterials #FutureFashion #InteriorDesigner #InteriorDesign

In case you missed it, this highlight film from the H&M Foundation’s Open Perspectives forum in April offers a great insight into key topics in bioinnovation, including our founder Suzanne Lee’s opening key note speech where she shared how, when working alongside startups and brands, “everyone asks the same question, how do we make innovation go faster? As if it was happening slowly. Well, here’s the hard truth: innovation just takes time.” Watch the full highlight film here - https://lnkd.in/eJktYMXp - and share your thoughts with us below. #throwbackthursday #fashioninnovation #bioinnovation #biomaterials #patience #openperspectives #fashioningthefuture

“We are at the frontier of new biomaterials,” explains Biofabricate CEO Suzanne Lee in an interview with Britt Peterson for The Washington Post . “[They] have the potential to have a lower carbon footprint, to use much less water and much less chemicals, and potentially biodegrade naturally at the end of their life”. Suzanne’s insights join those from leading biomaterial innovators who are reshaping the future of fashion in a bid to protect our planet; including Julia Marsh CEO of Sway, uyen tran CEO and Founder of TômTex Co., Aarav Chavda founder of INVERSA Leathers, Dan Widmaier CEO of Bolt Threads, and Tuomas Oijala CEO of SPINNOVA®. And you can read the full article here: 

I'm excited to be heading to MIT Media Lab to join students around the world taking the inspirational 'How To Grow (Almost) Anything' course with the inimitable David Sun Kong, Ph.D. - I'm honored to be giving a lecture alongside giants of the biodesign field - looking forward to student questions! (Hint: spot the biofabricated items I'm wearing tomorrow 🕵♀️ ) #biocouture, #biodesign, #biomaterials, #biofabrication, #synbio, #futureofeverything

We couldn’t agree more with Caroline Jacob’s recent article for Fast Company, highlighting the transformative potential of biology in redefining our material world – and we’re delighted with the coverage of our Biofabricate Paris Summit and the showcasing of exhibitors including TômTex Co., MycoWorks, Colorifix, LanzaTech, Mango Materials and Spiber Inc. At Biofabricate, we’ve long championed that biomaterials offer more than just imitations of existing materials—they present new opportunities for creativity and innovation; new functionalities and aesthetics engineered right from the conception stage. We’re encouraged to see the wider design world embracing these principles and encouraging creative approaches to biomaterial development. #Biomaterials #BiofabricateSummitParis #Bioinnovation #SustainableFashion #BioTech https://bit.ly/3UGEmmY