Fashion designers and scientists have developed a new fabric that is grown in vats of tea.

(Kazan, August 23, Tatar-Inform). Fabric grown in vats of tea is being used to produce a new type of material for the fashion industry.

Fashion designers and scientists have developed a new fabric that is grown in vats of tea.

The material, which has a leather-like texture but is extremely lightweight, has already been used to make shirts, jackets, dresses and even shoes.

Scientists at Imperial College London have been working with fashion designers from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, also in the capital, to create the fabric, for use in the fashion industry. They believe such innovative, sustainable textiles will become increasingly important for the clothing industry as pressure on the resources needed to create traditional fabrics such as cotton, wool and leather increases.

The new fabric is grown in a soup of green tea, sugar and other nutrients, over the course of several days.

Professor Paul Freemont, a molecular biologist at Imperial College London is quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph: “Once it is dried, it feels just like leather and is really tough. You can't tear it apart.”

The project is being led by Suzanne Lee, a senior research fellow and designer at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, who has already used the material to make clothes.

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