Gin from peas, infinite hoodie, plant shoe, light and heat stabilizers for agricultural plastics, slimy sea lettuce for biofuels, and more: The Digest’s Top 10 Innovations for the week of July 24th

#2 “Infinite” hoodie, biodegradable tennis dress produced by stella mccartney

In New York, adidas and stella mccartney have successfully created a biodegradable tennis dress and a fully recyclable hoodie from old cotton—critical breakthroughs as the fashion industry grapples with waste concerns.

The “infinite hoodie,” is made up of 60% nucyle fibers from the threads of old garments, and the other 40% is cotton diverted from landfills. The process, developed in partnership with evrnu, involves liquifying the cotton to its original polymer, extracting the polymer, then 3D printing the material into new yarn.

The tennis dress was developed in partnership with Bolt Threads, a bioengineering firm producing a protein-based material from renewable raw materials that is similar to silk.

The hoodie can be recycled an infinite number of times, while the dress is biodegradable.

“Fashion is one of the most harmful industries to the environment,” stella mccartney tells Designboom. “We can’t wait any longer to search for answers and alternatives. By creating a truly open approach to solving the problem of textile waste, we can help empower the industry at large to bring more sustainable practices into reality. With adidas by stella mccartney we’re creating high performance products that also safeguard the future of the planet.”
More on the story, here.