Stella Mccartney Unveils First Ever Garment From Industrial Waste
USA start-up Protein Evolution (PEI) and its fashion brand partner, Stella McCartney has launched their first fashion garment, a Parka, manufactured from transforming industrial plastic waste into fibres.
The fashion clothing has been created using PEI’s proprietary Biopure technology, which uses AI-designed enzymes to biologically break down synthetic textile and plastic waste.
The Parka, designed by Stella McCartney, is made from rigid packaging waste and industrial textile strappings waste, which are used to secure international freight containers.
“Today marks a pivotal moment in the move towards textile-to-textile circularity in the fashion industry,” said Connor Lynn, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer of Protein Evolution.
“This Parka is a validation of the utility and quality of polyester chips created using Biopure and also offers companies an alternative to the landfill or incinerator for their fabrics, extending the life of their materials indefinitely,” Lynn stated
Protein Evolution’s Biopure technology leverages AI-designed enzymes to break down polyester waste into the polyester chips, similar to petroleum-derived raw materials used in polyester manufacturing.
Once these polyester chips are transformed into yarns, then fabrics and then clothing, the result is a infinitely recycled polyester with a meaningfully lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester.
Biopure is capable of handling a variety of waste streams, from plastic bottles and clam-shells, to industrial textiles and garments.
“Anybody who knows me knows that I hate waste, which is why I am so thrilled about our collaboration with Protein Evolution,” said Stella McCartney.
“Through my SOS Fund, we were among the first to invest in their pioneering biological recycling technology, which has the potential to transform the world’s plastic waste into infinitely recyclable polyester,” McCartney added.
Over the last year, Protein Evolution has taken unused fabrics from past Stella McCartney collections to test and prove their textile-to-textile circular process.
This allowed designers of the fashion brand to design and create the beautiful, airy parachute Parkas made from biologically recycled polyester.
The Parka will be on display at the COP28 venue at the Stella McCartney sustainable fashion exhibit till December 12, 2023.
