Despite the wide variety of fabrics used for our clothing, they all share the property of not being living tissues. This could be due to them never having been part of an organism, or having been removed from said organism. Another approach here entails so-called engineered living materials (ELMs), with a recent research article by [Ke Li] et al. in Science Advances providing a good example of a fungal platform for such living textiles.
Although it may seem frivolous to create something like this, the direct benefits would be to have a fabric that can self-heal and respond to its environment, including blocking UV radiation and changing its coloring through pigmentation.
The research demonstrated in this paper covers essentially a platform for creating a living textile that can be adapted to a wide variety of applications and colorizations. Of note is that the researchers have not yet tested aspects like washability, abrasion resistance, breathability and wearer comfort, so this should definitely be regarded as setting the stage for more research.
For the basic material the fungi Cordyceps militaris was chosen, which were subsequently placed between films. To this additional microbial cultures were added, including the pigment-producing S. cerevisiae and melanized A. niger for UV blocking.
As for what it can look like with clothing, this article at De Zeen gives somewhat of an idea, as well as how the living textile is prepared.
Won’t be very alive after going through a washing machine.
Considering how difficult it can be to eradicate fungi (ever had athlete’s foot, jock itch, toenail fungus?) hand washing with a mild surfactant may not be a problem. And as it says above, washability is one property that hasn’t been tested.
For stains, just hang up the garment until the stained parts die and are sloughed off. Might have to feed your shirt occasionally, though. ;-)
How cool would it be, if you can cut out a stain and then within a day or so it closes up by itself, repairing itself. On the other hand, it wouldn’t be as fun as a shirt growing a 3rd arm. But worse would be a shirt with or a collar that decides it needs repair and that the hole you stuck your neck through gradually decides to close up, repairing the hole with you still in it.
This would make a nice twilight zone episode. At least it would be better than the humongous fungus plot they tried to put in the super mario brother movie a few decades ago.
Well the body is covered with bacteria, oils and dead skin, maybe you’re already feeding it?
Just repopulate with some spore powder.
I’m thinking of reparability. Every shirt and/or trousers gets ripped from being worn over time. Would clothing made with living fungi be capable of repairing itself through growing over the tear?
I think the greenest garment is probably to skin somebody and wear them, but I guess that’s normally frowned upon
People used to [ and apparently still do ] make leather, there are a fair few human bound books floating around.
Still, generally frowned upon. Unarguably a surplus. Still everything gets recycled eventually, some things just take longer.
People also used to make soap. Sadly it was the dead end of the once industrial might of Germany.
Soviets came and bombed everything to rubble.
I’ve read hundreds of world war 2 books. It’s a famous story, but not really the case. There used to be one fragment that came out of danzig but it is disputed. Considering the extremely large number of horrible things they did do, it does sound like something they would do. It’s a bit like Marilyn Manson removing his lower ribs, in a way that, it’s so plausible that it happened, that people assume it’s real without checking the facts.
Aspergillus niger ?
Perhaps clothes could be made edible? No need to wash it, just eat it and grow a new one. I’ll eat my hat if that happens!
Edible underwear?
[Xandiloquence Bizarre the Ab3rd has entered the chat]
Not all clothing is year-round and some is quite seasonal. Makes me think throwaway baseball caps that are made into compost at the end of the summer :]
Regardless, fibers and textiles, both are as old as humans. I am not exactly sold on fungi-grown fibers growing automagically into fabric, and I would wager cultured bamboo or hemp fibers would be quite superior; if one can figure out how to grow those into desired/target fabric, and then how to get rid of lignin and other un-fiber things, then you have a proper recipe.
OH God……..
The future is frightening…
In a home ten years in the future you hear this conversation….
Johnny don’t forget to feed your underwear before you go to bed tonight…….
Mom! I hate that breed of underwear it gives me jock itch….
Maybe they could breed a species of underwear that outcompetes the jock itch.
Trichopantson rubrum
Corduroyceps
I’ll see myself out
That was beautiful….Match Game worthy
This tech might be best for drapes.
Speaking of drapes, never put older drapes in the wash with clothes….the fibers get loose and it is poison ivy city-johnson
S. cerevisiae is the stem used in beer. You would finally have an excuse for that smell.
My wife is allergic – as in “grab the EpiPen and get to the hospital” – to mushrooms in food. I suspect that other fungi would cause the same reaction, and I shudder to think about all the exposure she might experience if clothing made with them becomes popular.
BTW, mushroom allergies are on the increase.