Every so often, a bit of cutting edge science makes you sit back and think; This is so simple! Why didn't they think of this earlier?

Instead of using animal parts, or plant fibres, BioCouture aims, ultimately, to grow entire garments in a vat.

Right now, they grow mats of bacteria and yeast in a bath of nutrients, which spin mats of cellulose fibres that can be shaped into garments, resulting in a material dubbed "vegetable leather".

The use of the material is limited - it cannot be worn in the rain, and it decomposes like any other vegetable matter, but the original team of artists have turned their idea over to "proper" scientists, who are working to modify the final product to be hydrophobic and longer lasting.  Until then, the garments they produce are unique, and transient, since they can end their useful lives on the compost heap.

In the mean time, this is stuff grown in bath tubs - any Maker with a spare room and a biological leaning could be producing this stuff themselves.

There's a patch for the first member to grow their own Robot t-shirt ;-)