Our bodies are actually 100% bio-degradable and compostable…
but all our beloved possessions are not, and they will live or pollute for many years after we have passed away, especially our textiles; clothes, home fabrics and fashion accessories.
Oceans, mountains, deserts, small towns or big cities, are invaded with our waste. I still believe that we humans someday will make it back to live in balance with our environment. That doesn’t mean necessarily going back to the caverns and just collect fruits around, but to live more consciously and to be more grateful with our planet.
The new generation materials are in pursuit of that balance but unfortunately in the means of being commercial, imitate the characteristics from fossil materials or just ensure the survival of the start-ups for further research, a lot of designers have decided to produce either hybrid materials which are very problematic to reuse & recycle or bio-plastic and bio-leather which can be composted only in industrial facilities under controlled humidity and temperature, but if they end up in the nature, they will just behave the same way as regular plastic.
The main issue about that, is just the information available to the consumers, most of these companies are not transparent about the content of their materials, or we consumers do not fully understand the meaning of the norm-certificates and seals on the labels of every product, because it’s not clear stated -industrial- or -home- compostable.
Even if at the moment 100% home compostable materials feel more speculative than real, I want to stand by them and give them the chance to show us a cleaner reality. I want to see those „futuristic“ textiles making their way out of museum display cases into studios and ateliers where designers and customers can actually test them and involve them into our daily life.
What about you?….