Clothes from a Can

Frequent readers of this website might be familiar with our claim that Next Nature emerges from a fusion between the Born and the Made. But now we can add another: the fusion of the Sewn and the Grown. Cheesy wordplay or not, fact is that this Spray-on Fabric changes your perception of what clothing is or should be. It becomes more grown, and less made.

The product – an instant, sprayable, non-woven fabric – was created some years ago by Fabrican and developed through a collaboration between Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, London (UK). After spraying the liquid, the fabric kind of grows itself. A model that tested the fabric on her skin reportedly said it ‘felt like a second skin’.

You can probably imagine the implications of this product, except it’s aesthetic appeal to hip designers all over the world: from First Aid Clothing Spray for emergency situations like floods and earthquakes to Sex toys to Auto-dressing Cabins for the elderly and the disabled. Clothing will be something you buy from a supermarket shelf and when you travel, you only need to breng some extra cans. But most importantly: you will never have to wash your clothes again – the ultimate disposable material in a throwaway society? Well, the self-sprayed clothing can be recycled by tearing it to pieces and mix it with a substance that makes the fabric liquid again.

Spiderman, eat your heart out.

Movieclip about the Spray-on T-Shirt