Textile and Technology in Fashion

            Fashion Technology at Modern Meadow       Name Institutional Affiliation Course Title Tutor Date       Introduction The issue of sustainable fashion has gained significant importance in the fashion industry in recent years. This can be attributed to the fact that issues related to sustainability continue to have more influence on consumers’ purchasing decisions. Sustainable fashion can be described as fashion products such as garments that are ethically sourced and produced. Major players in the fashion industry are thus striving to come up with innovative products and services that they can use to address the problems associated with massive environmental degradation particularly in areas where they source their raw materials from. One such company that is using technology to produce sustainable raw materials that it uses to produce its fashion products is Modern Meadow. Modern Meadow is a fashion company based in New York. According to the company’s website, it harnesses the power of design, biology, and engineering to produce bio-fabricated leather materials in an effort to promote cost effectiveness and sustainable development. This paper examines how Modern Meadow has integrated technology into its fashion products so as to promote sustainability.     Modern Meadow‘s project In an effort to promote sustainable fashion and efficient, cost effective way of producing fashion products, Modern Meadow decided to use bio-fabrication technology to produce leather that it can use as raw material.  Bio-fabrication entails the use of cell development biology, biomaterial science, and mechanical engineering to come up with complex living and non-living biological products. In the case of Modern Meadow’s project, yeast fermentation and bio-fabrication are used to manufacture collagen materials cost effectively at industrial scale. The company has developed a proprietary bio-fabrication process that it is using to produce recombinant collagen at industrial scale without any animal. The company’s technology platform that it uses to grow leather involves several processes. Firstly, DNA editing process is used to determine the type and quality of the required collagen. This is done by engineering a specialized collagen-producing yeast cells.  Secondly, the edited DNA is put into cells so that they can grow through multiplication. This is done by putting them in a conducive environment and supplying them with nutrients that the cells convert into energy that enable them to make copies of themselves rapidly. Thirdly, by making copies of themselves, the cells produce a type of protein known as collagen that is the building block of the company’s leather.   The collagen then combines to form a triple helix molecule called fibrils.  Fourthly, the fibrils are allowed to join to form bundles known as fibers. Fifthly, the fibers are assembled to create layer sheets that are then combined to form a bio-leather material which is finally tanned and finished ready for use as a raw material in the production of fashion products. Context of the project Modern Meadow is operating in a competitive business environment. As such, there was a need for the company to find innovative ways in which it can source its raw materials to ensure cost effectiveness. Furthermore, sustainability issues are increasingly affecting consumers’ purchasing decisions in the market where the company is operating in. It was therefore vital for Modern Meadow to focus its strategies on promoting sustainable fashion so as to gain additional market share. With an eye toward sustainable fashion and efficient, cost effective way of producing leather products, Modern Meadow decided to use bio-fabrication technology to grow its leather. The decision to use the technology under consideration at Modern Meadow was therefore influenced the need to meet the demand for sustainable fashion products in the market and ensure efficiency and cost effectiveness in the company’s operations.   Influences of the technology The demand for sustainable fashion is on the rise in the fashion industry. Modern Meadow thus saw an opportunity that it could exploit and come up with a technology that could enable it to bio-fabricate leather at industrial scale without the need of the rest of the cow. It is important to point out that the company does not actually grow cow skin in the laboratory, but instead uses a specific strain of yeast that is engineered to produce collagen which is the type of protein ...