Wired UK – September 2019

PH

OTO

GR

APH

Y:^ A

ND

REW

WO

FFI

ND

EN

027 START

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