Carbon Upcycling:
Environmentally Sustainable Fashion
RB CHAMBER OF COMMERCE INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
While studying at UCLA’s NanoScience Institute, a group of girls and I designed a collection of clothing (outFIT) that could potentially reduce carbon emissions in polluted cities, as we produced workout clothing made from fabric composed of carbon nanotubes extracted from carbon dioxide in the air. I applied my two years of experience in various chemistry classes with my background in graphic design, where my curiosity and understanding of the unique structures of carbon inspired my sketches, fashion illustrations, and models of the environmentally-sustainable clothing. We were able to upcycle carbon emissions by harnessing carbon nanotubes’ chemical properties, creating environmentally-friendly textiles that would revolutionize fashion.
outFIT concept drawings
Upcycling Carbon
How outFIT reduces fashion's carbon footprint through apparel production
The lack of environmental responsibility in the fashion industry is astounding. Fast-fashion trends in which consumers want more clothes that only last a season promote harmful manufacturing processes that pollute the air and soil, making fashion the second-most contributor to pollution, only after oil. However, consumer needs have recently shifted in ways that better promote environmental health, as there is an increases desire to better understand one’s own body and health, and the health of their own planet. OutFit addresses these needs of the consumer and of the environment by adding an eco-friendly consumer component to the carbon cycle.
By using carbon nanotubes that have been converted from carbon emissions, OutFIT is able to blend carbon fabric with other eco-friendly materials to make a collection of environmentally-friendly and high tech workout clothes.
OutFIT harnesses carbon collected from emissions in the air through smog-collecting towers implanted in populated urban areas. The technology within these towers absorbs pure carbon from carbon dioxide and condenses the pure organic substance into a singular plane of carbon molecules. These sheets are then rolled into carbon nanotubes, known as the most durable yet most flexible substance naturally found on earth.
OutFIT creates hybrid textiles of these carbon nanotubes and luon/lyrica to create fabric that follows you while you move but also possesses the incredible capabilities of carbon. The carbon nanotubes give our hybrid textiles sustainability and flexibility like no other textile on the market. OutFIT goes even further to harness the natural capabilities of carbon, using its ability effectively to conduct electricity.
Health Monitoring
Harnessing and Streamlining Carbon's Electrical Properties
Our carbon nanotubes’ chemical and electrical properties convert normal athletic gear and activity into transmittable analytical data - basically turning OutFIT Sports Apparel into a high-end and responsive FitBit, upcycling carbon emissions from the atmosphere to create a better sense of environmental and body awareness. It harnesses the electrochemical properties of carbon nanotubes to read and analyze electrical and physiological signals within the body, which would be automatically uploaded to a user interface via microprocessors within the clothing.
Biosensors convert biological processes into electrical impulses which are sent to a microprocessor embedded within the clothing. The microchip then wirelessly syncs the data to any health interface on your phone to display data collected during the user’s activity. OutFIT’s biosensors can analyze electromagnetic fields throughout the whole body and identify any health abnormalities.
Completing the Fourth Branch of the Carbon Cycle
An initiative that adds consumer-friendly components to the Carbon Cycle
OutFIT’s workout clothing line increases awareness of the environment and of one’s own body by streamlining activity tracking and revolutionizing health monitoring all the while encouraging a more sustainable fashion industry, changing the the way people perceive clothing and its purpose.
OutFIT was inspired innovative and boundary-pushing work of artist Daan Roosegaarde and BMW's Carbon Core Technology. OutFIT takes inspiration from these precedents, building upon their technology and strive for a more healthy future.
Daan Roosengaarde is an artist and architectural designer from Netherlands who has created Smog Free Towers that act like giant vacuum cleaners, collecting air, purifying it, and releasing it back into the atmosphere cleansed. This 23 foot tower can clean 30 cubic meters of air per hour, using only 1170 watts of electricity. One of towers is currently installed in a park in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It provides the area around it with clean air. Furthermore, Studio Roosengaarde collects the carbon from the air purifiers and uses it to make Smog Free Rings. We use that same technology to collect the carbon present in our nanotubes.