Could this evening dress be a solution to pollution?
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The Zara brand on Monday launched a limited line of little black dresses made in part from carbon emissions.
And while this is just a small test for an industry known to spew a lot of emissions into the air as it trades retail trends with increasing speed, via what is being said called fast fashion, technology represents an overhaul of consumerism. Beyond the supply chain footprint, a material overhaul is part of what some say is necessary to prevent the Earth from heating up too quickly and landfills from overflowing.
McKinsey research shows that the global fashion industry was responsible for around 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2018, about 4% of the world total. That’s roughly the same amount of GHGs per year as the economies of France, Germany and the UK combined.
The technology behind these LBDs comes from Lanzatech. It produces ethanol from carbon emissions through a fermentation process, similar to how yeast converts sugar into alcohol. The carbon set aside for ethanol can be collected from industry, agriculture or households, and its use is certainly not exclusive to fashion. But in the case of the Zaras line, the carbon emissions were collected in the steel mills and the resulting ethanol was used to make the fibers that create the polyester yarn.
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All four dress styles, which retail for $ 69, will be sold Online only.
We have found a new way to recycle carbon emissions to make fabric, said Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech.
The next challenge is to evolve the technology to reduce the cost of materials and expand its use to more products. Dresses are the first garments to hit the market using LanzaTechs technology. Earlier this year, the company announced a collaboration withLululemon
LULU,
and a partnership with Onfor running shoes, although these products have yet to be marketed.
It is also true that reused waste is only part of the clothing. LanzaTech makes monoethylene glycol, or MEG, from ethanol (by converting it to ethylene oxide and then to MEG). MEG, together with purified terephthalic acid (PTA), gives polyester. Today PTA comes from fossil fuel CL00,
by-products, while 100% of MEG can be created from recycled carbon. The final polyester contains 20% MEG and 80% PTA, so the garment contains polyester with 20% carbon emissions.
Illinois-based LanzaTech’s first commercial-scale gas fermentation plant produced over 20 million gallons of ethanol, equivalent to conserving over 120,000 metric tonnes of CO2 of the atmosphere.
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Holmgren recently spoke to MarketWatch to discuss a partnership with an Indian client. This campaign converted the CO2 emissions and renewable electricity from factories in India of lipids and fatty acids rich in omega-3s, a nutritional component of foods that was part of an effort to reduce food shortages. LanzaTech also says it was the first to convert industrial waste into jet fuel, which was used by Virgin Airways.
We have to learn to use carbon that is not buried in the ground, Holmgren said then. Let us turn the curve and see emissions drop by 5% to 8% every year, whether it’s with our technology or with anyone else. If we were to use carbon, let’s use what is above the ground.