The Mycelium Factory

Grow Your Own Clothes by Yourself

The fashion industry is facing a number of sustainability challenges that are increasingly becoming a cause for concern. The rise of fast fashion has led to huge consumption of natural and human resources. Every pair of jeans produced consumes about 150 litres of water for dyeing, washing out, and eventually goes into rivers and lakes. The significantly increasing demand for labour has resulted in the exploitation of workers in low-wage countries who are often subjected to poor working conditions and low pay.

To tackle the existing issues in the fashion industry. The project aims to create an alternative production system which is ethical and environmentally friendly. I explored mycelium (the root of mushrooms) as a shelf-growing material fed with human sweat to grow wearable garments. Further from the sustainability consideration, the project tried to explore the intimate relationship between humans and clothes, as symbionts, and as a second skin.

Frame

Glasgow School of Art

March 2021

Brief

A self-initiated project that showcases personal interests in contemporary design practice and approaches. Taking existing environmental issues in the fashion industry as a starting point, the project focused on biodesign and proposed a system that involves living organisms in the design and production of fashion items.

The Design Process

MYCELIUM FABRIC by NEFFA

YCELIUM BRICK by Material Incubator

Figure 2.

Figure 1.

Material Exploration

Mycelium has amazing properties such as light, softness and strength. It has been experimented on construction which is also an ideal material for making garments.

By taking samples from fresh mushrooms and sinking them in liquids to grow mycelium. I played with different solvents such as sweat, tears, and rain. Turned out that liquids from human contain nutrients for the mycelium to grow. As Figure 2. shows, mycelium grows against the wall of the test tube. After further research, I concluded a formula to to grow mycelium on a certain structure which inspired me to design a 'growing clothes'.