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Rachel Clowes’ bio-sequins work as well in compost as on the dance floor
Fashion designed
to be disposable
A
ll that glitters is not plastic. Rachel
Clowes, a London-based designer, is
developing a type of sequin that biode-
grades at the end of its fashion lifetime.
She calls them “bio-sequins”.
Sequins are typically made from
non-biodegradable plastic such as PVC
- which contains persistent, toxic and
bioaccumulative chemicals known to
be carcinogenic and disrupt hormone
balance. As a result, sequins are
polluting and unsustainable: they can
stay in the environment for hundreds
of years, clogging up oceans, rivers and
soils with chemical pollution. “Plastic
sequins shimmer for a few hours on
the dancefloor, then languish at the
back of the wardrobe for a few years,
before lying intact in a landfill for a few
centuries or more,” Clowes says.
Her interest in bio-sequins stems
from her MA at the London College of
Fashion, when she explored the problem
of occasion wear languishing unworn.
“I proposed that keeping something
for a long time, but not wearing it, is
not sustainable behaviour; it is simply
storing waste within the wardrobe,” she
says. Through her research, Clowes
found that special-event wear has a
short life, with sequinned clothing worn
only two to three times on average.
As an alternative, she developed
organic bio-sequins – made from
starch, natural dye, water and fruit
glycerine, with a rigidity and flexibility
similar to conventional plastic – that
can be dissolved in boiling water to form
a compostable fluid that returns the
nutrients to the environment.
Clowes is now collaborating with
Graham Ormondroyd at Bangor Univer-
sity’s BioComposites Centre, in Wales,
to develop bio-sequins designed to last
the average few wears of occasional
fashion before biodegrading. They
are made from PLA (polylactic acid), a
plant-based polymer used in packaging.
“When it was first being used, there was
a lot of discussion around whether it
was taking food away from people, but
now you can make PLA from waste
products,” says Ormondroyd.
The clever thing about using PLA
(which can even be made from bread
waste) is that the bio-sequins break
down when exposed to a microbial
environment such as compost, but
last longer in a less microbe-friendly
wardrobe. Ormondroyd estimates they
will biodegrade in around six months.
The main challenge is delivering
bright colour and shine. In conven-
tional PVC sequins, manufacturers use
aluminium, whose processing causes
significant carbon dioxide emissions. In
their quest for a natural material that
is economically feasible, Clowes and
Ormondroyd are looking at clay, which,
as a non-biodegradable material, would
leave only coloured residue in compost.
Clowes hopes to start supplying the
fashion industry by the end of 2019,
with bio-sequins in circles, squares,
triangles, ovals and teardrops that
sparkle – yet will safely disappear
once the party is over... Anna Marks
thesustainablesequincompany.com
Rachel Clowes models a dress decorated with polylactic acid bio-sequins
09-19-STBioSequins.indd 29 15/07/2019 12:44