The Dutch Fashion for Good Museum developed an in-house exhibition called GROW which shows biomaterials which might just be the future of fashion materials.

With the GROW exhibition, visitors are shown conventional biomaterials, like ecological (lab-grown) cotton, flax and hemp, but also innovative materials like fabric made of citrus peels, mushroom leather, spider silk and dye made with bacteria and algae.

“Since the dawn of fashion, it has paid tribute to the ingenuity of nature: from organic shapes, patterns, materials and fibres to a variety of colours and textures based on nature,” the museum’s press release states. “With the rise of fast fashion, natural resources have been exploited all over the world. As a result, the relationship between fashion and nature has come under pressure. The GROW expo shows how groundbreaking innovations can instead draw inspiration from nature and how scientists use the cycle of creation and recreation to develop the sustainable materials of the future.”

The exhibition explains why we need these sustainable, nature-based alternatives as a substitute for plastic-based fibres and materials in the fashion industry. Some of the materials are still in development, others are ready to use.

In addition to the innovative materials, the exhibition also shows products of pioneering brands like Pangaia, FREITAG F-ABRIC, the Nude Label, Phool, Bananatex and Bioglitz, including a special glitter station.

To accelerate the acceptance of biomaterials in the industry, Fashion for Good has initiated the GROW talent project: a three-month programme in which young designers and creative talent will collaborate with never-before-used innovative materials. They will create the garments and stories of the future, which will eventually be shown in GROW 2.0, the exhibition (opening October 2021) that will literally show what the fashion of the future will look like.

Grow can be visited (virtually) from April until October.

Photos: Fashion for Good / Alina Krasieva