‘Grow Your Own clothes’ Aim of Project Our aim is to raise awareness about the problems within fats fashion and to create wearable garments from the b...
‘Grow Your Own clothes’ Aim of Project Our aim is to raise awareness about the problems within fats fashion and to create wearable garments from the bacteria “Kombucha”. We can grow our own ‘green material’ and subsequently make our own environmentally friendly, biodegradable clothes. We also want to:
Educate a wide audience about the environmental impact that the throw away fashion industry has on the planet. Show how different technologies are possible solutions to issues involved with exploitation of natural materials for the disposable fashion industry. Showcase the clothes and items made and to show people that the clothes we have grown are not only functional but what they are formed from is unique.
We researched how to make the process and manufacture the clothing.
Grown Waistcoat
Kombucha’mother’
Wet material
Moulded Hat
Bath Green Tea and Sugar
The material is produced using a kombucha recipe which is a symbiotic mixture of bacteria, yeasts and other micro- organisms which spin cellulose in a fermentation process. The bacteria feed off the sugar and green tea spinning tiny fibres of cellulose which stick together to form a sheet. Materials like cotton need to be dyed 18 times to get desired colour, for our bio material it needs only to be dyed once to get similar results.
Results We have managed to make a completely environmentally friendly material from bacteria. We have produced several garments waistcoats, an apron, a skirt, 2 hats. We have produced various thickness of material some lightweight and transparent like paper and some more flexible like leather. We have sewn it conventionally and have used the wet material to form around a 3 dimensional shape forming a garment without sewing it. The project has caused a real stir in school as students cannot believe that our small bacteria ‘mother’ can create an item of clothing. It has provoked a great deal of curiosity and discussion.
This unusual project has caused excitement and genuine interest throughout school, community and amongst media. This has given us a platform to speak out about our concerns of the rise in ’fast fashion’ and the pressing ecological and sustainable issues that surround it. After winning the Ecover Young Green Champions Award the four girls have continued developing their project and spreading their message regarding the impact of ‘fast fashion’.
Ecover Young Green Champions Award 2013 Kombucha hat tried on by some celebrities.
Colin Firth
Lenny Henry
Ben Fogle
Big Bang Fair Liverpool – 26th June 2013 The girls presented their project to a wide audience. Their bacteria clothes caused a stir and the girls were able to spread their message regarding the ’fast fashion industry’. The girls were the North West Young Engineers 2013 winners
BBC North West Tonight After winning the title the girls were filmed by the BBC and a video appeared on website BBC News as well as being televised on BBC North West Tonight.
September - December 2013 New batches of material were grown in the greenhouse. Younger members of the school were taught how to make the material.
Clothing An apron and a skirt were conventionally sewn from the material. Another hat was made by moulding around a plastic hat. No sewing was required. The group also made a shoulder bag.
Jane Goodall Roots @Shoots Awards In December the team were invited to London Zoo to showcase their work and take part in an ecofashion show. They were further able to spread their message about the environmental impact of fast fashion as well as teach others how to make the material.
Shortlisted in the Isle of Man Newspapers Awards for Excellence 2013 for Innovation and Independent Thinking.
World Future Energy Summit Abu Dhabi - January 2014 The school was filmed as part of the Zayad future Energy Prize. The ‘Grow Your own Clothes’ project was one of the many school eco projects that were filmed for the Award Ceremony.
Experiments conducted on material January – March 2014 Skin Test (Allergy test) Equipment - Material ,Hole puncture, Cellotape,Volunteers Aim To test whether our material has any adverse effects on skin. Method
Use hole puncture to make standard sized pieces of material along with cutting a control piece of cellotape Cellotape the pieces of material to wrists of volunteers Leave the material for school day Record results on all volunteers
Measure out sections of dry material dyed and not dyed Set up the apparatus. Make sure it is set up away from flammable materials Use a pair of tongs to pick up the material and immerse it in the flame Measure the time taken for the material to catch fire Repeat to gain more reliable results
Results When burning it we found that our material isn't particularly flammable and so could be a suitable clothing material. The material didn't catch fire- it decomposed when held under flame. So presumably the only thing you should be worried about when wearing these clothes in a fire is them falling off.
Stretch Test Equipment- Clamp Stand, Clamp x2 (see photos),Strips of dried material ,Weights Aim We aim to determine whether the material can hold a certain weight. The ideal weight will be the average weight of a phone and £10 of change (pocket content) in order to test the quality of our material. Method
Set up equipment as shown in photo Measure the original length of material in mm between both clamps Attach weight to material Add each weight and measure the new length of material between both clamps Construct table and plot graph Calculate the stress/strain of material (youngs modulus)
Things to take into account -Clamp weight Height of each experiment (therefore gravity acting on it)
Results
Test
Initial Length (mm)
Length adding 950g for 2 minutes (mm)
1
35
36
2
37
38
3
39
41
4
35
37
5
35
37
6
36
36
7
35
37
8
36
38
9
35
36
10
35
37
11
36
37
12
35
37
13
36
37
14
35
37
15
36
36
16
35
36
17
35
37
18
36
37
19
36
38
20
37
39
National Science and Engineering Big Bang Fair Birmingham- March 2014 Society of Biology Prize 2014 The girls were invited to the National science and Engineering finals in Birmingham which saw 215 projects showcased. As the school is not a UK school the girls unfortunately could not compete for the core prizes including National titles as they were sponsored by the Department of Business , Innovation and Skills. They could however compete for special prizes. They were eligible for the Society of Biology Prize. To the girls amazement they won the Award .They were up against some outstanding projects.
BBC Songs of Praise - Island of Culture - broadcast 23rd March 2014 Trailer - Bill Turnbull celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Isle of Man, meets a Manx teenager who is saving the environment by 'growing' her own clothes.
