2.4 Biobased materials

Bio-based materials are made from renewable biological resources, such as plants, algae, fungi, bacteria, agricultural side streams or other forms of biomass. Biofabricated materials are created using biological processes, such as microbial growth, fungal growth, algae cultivation or fermentation (BIOTEXFUTURE, n.d.; Textile Exchange, 2023).

These materials are important because they offer possible routes away from fossil-based inputs and open new ways to design textiles, coatings, films, leather-like materials, foams, dyes and packaging. Some can be processed using existing textile knowledge, while others require new manufacturing systems (Hottle et al., 2013). However, many are still emerging, expensive, produced in limited quantities or available mainly through specialised suppliers.

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