{"title":"Materials biography as a tool for designers’ exploration of bio-based and bio-fabricated materials for the sustainable fashion industry","authors":"V. Rognoli, B. Petreca, Barbara Pollini, C. Saito","doi":"10.1080/15487733.2022.2124740","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The fashion industry is highly responsible for critical environmental problems and the sector is increasingly aware of the urgent need to embark on a sustainable transition. Materials, primarily textiles, are particularly problematic for the sector’s unsustainability, despite the intensive research into alternative solutions that is currently underway. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of these socio-environmental challenges and describes how governments, industry, and designers are seeking to address the situation. Furthermore, it identifies a panorama of alternative bio-based and bio-fabricated materials that could facilitate the transition toward more sustainable fashion. We present a selection of 24 case studies of newly developed bio-based and bio-fabricated materials and group them by their origin. Analysis of the cases led to the delineation of five “materials biography categories” to help understand the prominent narratives and to communicate their characteristics and fundamental attributes. This taxonomy also serves to support concepts for a circular economy by helping to build a sort of “material passport” or “product biography,” two concepts underpinning the outcome of this study, and emphasizes the need for tools to further the communication and traceability of these emergent materials. We propose “materials biography,” an overarching idea that catalogues essential dimensions and offer it to designers, companies, and final users to enhance their perception and awareness of such novel materials.","PeriodicalId":35192,"journal":{"name":"Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2022-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2022.2124740","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
Abstract The fashion industry is highly responsible for critical environmental problems and the sector is increasingly aware of the urgent need to embark on a sustainable transition. Materials, primarily textiles, are particularly problematic for the sector’s unsustainability, despite the intensive research into alternative solutions that is currently underway. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of these socio-environmental challenges and describes how governments, industry, and designers are seeking to address the situation. Furthermore, it identifies a panorama of alternative bio-based and bio-fabricated materials that could facilitate the transition toward more sustainable fashion. We present a selection of 24 case studies of newly developed bio-based and bio-fabricated materials and group them by their origin. Analysis of the cases led to the delineation of five “materials biography categories” to help understand the prominent narratives and to communicate their characteristics and fundamental attributes. This taxonomy also serves to support concepts for a circular economy by helping to build a sort of “material passport” or “product biography,” two concepts underpinning the outcome of this study, and emphasizes the need for tools to further the communication and traceability of these emergent materials. We propose “materials biography,” an overarching idea that catalogues essential dimensions and offer it to designers, companies, and final users to enhance their perception and awareness of such novel materials.
期刊介绍:
Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy is a refereed, open-access journal which recognizes that climate change and other socio-environmental challenges require significant transformation of existing systems of consumption and production. Complex and diverse arrays of societal factors and institutions will in coming decades need to reconfigure agro-food systems, implement renewable energy sources, and reinvent housing, modes of mobility, and lifestyles for the current century and beyond. These innovations will need to be formulated in ways that enhance global equity, reduce unequal access to resources, and enable all people on the planet to lead flourishing lives within biophysical constraints. The journal seeks to advance scientific and political perspectives and to cultivate transdisciplinary discussions involving researchers, policy makers, civic entrepreneurs, and others. The ultimate objective is to encourage the design and deployment of both local experiments and system innovations that contribute to a more sustainable future by empowering individuals and organizations and facilitating processes of social learning.