The race is on to bioengineer carbon-neutral, recyclable, biodegradable, and affordable materials.
In December 2019, an odd new product hit the headlines. Called FLWRDWN, unlike every other fashion material innovation you’ve read about that always seem to be years out of reach, the mixture of waste wildflowers, biopolymer, and a patented cellulosic aerogel debuted to the world ready to be worn, encased inside a fashionable nylon puffer coat.
Fashion drops are usually 99.9% hype. But FLWRDWN, which garnered press mentions from Vogue to Wired UK, arguably deserved more. It is natural, plant-based, animal-free, fossil-fuel free, fluffy, and warm. It is a seemingly perfect replacement for what you usually find in puffers: goose down if you’re a traditionalist or, if you are the kind to worry about feathers being ripped out of live geese, polyester fill.