Pants are an indispensable part of people's daily lives, especially the highly popular jeans. The distressed and bleached effects of jeans are much loved by consumers, but traditional processing methods often result in high energy costs and serious environmental burdens. To address these challenges, we aim to achieve the distressed and bleached effects of jeans through biotechnology. This method can not only significantly reduce environmental pollution and resource waste but also enhance the functionality of jeans, providing a more sustainable solution for the fashion industry and driving the industry towards environmentally-friendly development.
For our project, it is crucial to deeply understand the necessity of the product, the application scenarios of end users, consumer acceptance, and safety design. This is one of our core objectives. Through continuous communication with consumers, businesses, and experts, we constantly adjust the product design to ensure it meets market demand and improves user experience. This way, we can better meet customer needs and promptly adjust the project based on feedback.
We visited the Waterworks Museum and realized that the fashion industry, especially jeans production, is indeed a high-pollution, high-water-consuming sector. Coincidentally, one of our team members has a family member who works in jeans production. He revealed that in the process of bleaching jeans, the factory uses pumice stones. While this method achieves the desired visual effect, it causes serious environmental pollution problems.
To gain a deeper understanding of this issue, this team member personally completed the entire pumice bleaching process at home and carefully calculated the water consumption. The results showed that the water usage was astonishing. Not only does this process consume a large amount of water, but it also produces a lot of wastewater, severely affecting water quality. The fashion industry urgently needs to find more sustainable production methods.
We conducted a survey to understand the public’s purchasing intentions regarding jeans and their preferences for design styles.
The survey results show that the vast majority of respondents have purchased jeans.
Among the 246 participants, 50% stated that they tend to choose bleached jeans.
We also explored the reasons why consumers choose bleached jeans, which mainly centered around the following aspects: lower prices, high recyclability, and unique designs. These factors significantly influenced their purchasing decisions.
Regarding suggestions for developing new techniques for distressing and bleaching jeans, many respondents expressed concerns about the price. They worry that the use of biotechnology might lead to increased costs. Consumers also pointed out the potential safety risks associated with traditional chemical treatment methods, and the safety of biotechnological treatments is also an important factor that needs to be carefully considered.
After thorough research and group discussions, we reviewed relevant literature and designed a plan to produce laccase using Escherichia coli (E. coli). Laccase is an enzyme capable of catalyzing the oxidation of various phenolic and amine compounds. In the process of bleaching jeans, laccase can efficiently break down the indigo dye on jeans and convert it through oxidation, thus achieving the desired bleaching effect.
We provided Professor Qi Bin with a detailed introduction to our project, and he fully endorsed it, placing particular emphasis on its environmental benefits. Environmental protection has always been the core philosophy of our work. Professor Qi suggested that if we want to improve the enzyme’s degradation efficiency, we could add catalase to the laccase solution to enhance its ability to break down indigo. Catalase can catalyze the conversion of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. Since laccase requires oxygen molecules to degrade indigo, and molecular oxygen is relatively scarce in water, adding catalase can effectively break down hydrogen peroxide, releasing more oxygen for laccase to utilize. Based on this suggestion, we designed a plan in our subsequent experiments to modify E. coli to produce catalase.
We conducted a project interview with Dr. Cheng, who highly praised our approach, considering it a very innovative direction. He believes that using microorganisms and enzymes to improve traditional jeans production processes not only has the potential to enhance production efficiency but also effectively protects the environment by reducing the use of chemicals and minimizing environmental pollution. This approach holds great potential. Dr. Cheng mentioned that laccase and cellulase have already established a foundation in industrial applications, but we need to ensure the expression and secretion efficiency of these two enzymes in Escherichia coli. During the discussion, Dr. Cheng suggested that we could display these enzymes on the surface of the bacteria to enhance their catalytic effect. In our subsequent experimental plans, we will further explore bacterial surface display techniques to achieve more efficient enzyme utilization.
We subsequently had an online discussion with Mr. Zhu Yibo, the vice president of a biotech company. Mr. Zhu pointed out that using live bacteria in production could lead to complex biosafety issues, and since Escherichia coli is a living organism, its preservation and management present challenges, making it difficult to assess product performance and establish safety standards. Although we proposed some improvement plans, he still leaned towards the previous processing methods. Based on this feedback, we decided to abandon the bacterial surface display technique in the design of our subsequent experiments to ensure the feasibility and safety of the project.
To ensure the safety and acceptability of our project, we conducted interviews with potential consumers. The feedback revealed that while most were comfortable with the use of enzymes to treat jeans, they expressed discomfort with the idea of using live bacteria. Many found the presence of bacteria on their clothing psychologically unsettling and difficult to accept. Based on this feedback, we ultimately decided to abandon the bacterial surface display technique in favor of a safer and more consumer-friendly approach, focusing solely on enzyme application.
After completing our project design and experiments, we will be able to apply the bleaching process to jeans. We conducted interviews with clothing store staff and classmates and discovered that, besides bleaching, jeans often feature distressing and tearing designs, which are considered very trendy. The styles of ripped jeans vary widely, from light wear to noticeable tears, with each design conveying different fashion attitudes and expressions of individuality.
Based on this discovery, we plan to have Escherichia coli express cellulase in our subsequent experiments. Cellulase is a class of hydrolase that can effectively break down the cellulose in fabric, degrading it into simple carbohydrates. This treatment will soften the surface of the jeans and create tiny ridges and grooves at the microscopic level, giving them a natural worn appearance. Compared to traditional laser technology and manual processes, our method is more environmentally friendly, reducing costs while achieving a more natural effect, thus enhancing the product's market competitiveness.
During a meal, one of our team members accidentally spilled oil on their pants. Despite trying various cleaning methods, the oil stain stubbornly remained, which caused a lot of frustration. We realized that common detergents were not very effective in dealing with oil stains. To learn more, we visited a clothing store for an interview. The staff told us that in such cases, they usually send the pants to a laundry service in the hope of cleaning them thoroughly. However, oil stains are often difficult to remove completely, and the pants are usually discarded in the end. This issue highlighted the need for better care and cleaning solutions for jeans, which provided us with new ideas for our project.
After reviewing relevant literature, we designed a solution using Escherichia coli to produce lipase. Lipase is a water-soluble enzyme primarily used to catalyze the digestion, transportation, and cleavage of ester compounds, playing an important role in the breakdown and utilization of fats. This design offers a solution for dealing with oil stains.
After completing the development of our project, we sought to assess its market competitiveness by visiting a jeans manufacturer for a consultation. The manufacturer acknowledged the significant potential of our product, particularly its environmental advantages, and provided detailed insights into the jeans production process and water pollution challenges. He also expressed interest in testing our samples, with the possibility of purchasing or recommending them to his customers if successful. Additionally, the manufacturer kindly used an automatic sewing machine to stitch our team logo onto fabric, further supporting our efforts. This feedback strengthened our confidence in commercialization.
We also had the opportunity to visit Beijing Institute of Technology, where we engaged in meaningful discussions about our product’s potential from both professional and consumer viewpoints. The university team members shared their interest in the product, expressing that if it reaches full development, they would be inclined to purchase it as consumers. Their feedback not only strengthened our determination to further refine the product but also provided us with valuable insights into market positioning and consumer expectations, allowing us to align our product more effectively with market demands. This exchange further highlighted the practical viability and appeal of our innovation.
In addition, considering the high pollution caused by the current fashion industry, we have completed several initiatives related to the Sustainable Development Goals. For more details, please refer to: “Sustainable Development.”
Throughout our project, we conducted interviews with a wide range of individuals from different backgrounds at various stages of development. These stakeholders included consumers, jeans manufacturers, clothing store staff, and experts from academia and industry. The insights gathered from these conversations provided us with invaluable feedback on product design, safety, market potential, and environmental impact. By integrating their input into our project, we ensured that our solution meets real-world needs. This approach aligns with the Human Practices (HP) values in iGEM, emphasizing stakeholder engagement and responsible innovation.
