The potential of food-by-product-fabrics for sustainable fashion

Current sustainability issues in the fashion industry include: water consumption (Chico et al. 2013), carbon emissions (Bevilacqua et al. 2011) and the depletion of unsustainable resources (Goworek et al. 2017). Innovators are trying to combat this by utilising waste from agricultural processes and food production to manufacture fabrics (Charter 2018). This is a significant area for business diversification as it has potential to be more sustainable than using virgin materials, adopting a circular economy approach.

The project would provide novel research into the sustainable implications of regenerated food based fashion, the roles of stakeholders in successful adoption and consumers' attitudes and awareness.