Puma joins hands with Streamateria to explore sustainable alternatives for designing and dying textiles in its latest biodegradable project that features biodegradable lifestyle and performance collections called “Design to Fade”

The sports company and the Dutch project Living Colours have built this partnership the Swedish design studio Streamateria to codesign imperative.

Together they have managed to innovate and rise up to the challenge. They have announced some of the products have been dyed using bacteria while others are made out of degradable materials. This encourages the closed-loop cycle and has the scope to be manufactured locally at short notice.

The new “Design to Fade” collection is PUMA’s third biodesign project since 2016. It has marked the company’s attempt to reduce the environmental impact of fashion and sportswear. However, none of these projects have yet reached a commercial-stage but is an important step towards the brand's sustainable future.

The Swedish design studio Streamateria is known for making fabrics in closed material loops that become a source of raw material after they have been used. This is possible thanks to the company’s circular production chain with zero tolerance to waste. Their materials are constructed out of a printed mesh structure that is coated with bioplastic creating a textile garment. The Dutch design project Living Colours use bacteria to dye textiles. The bacteria are fed with a nutrient that makes them produce a pigment that in turn is utilized to dye almost any fiber.

As for Streamateria’s technology has been designed to perish after a predetermined period of utilization. Their cutting edge biomanufacturing process ensures that they nourish the environment as they decompose and turn waste into energy. As for their garment value, the biomaterial coating has the potential to cool athletes. 

The collaboration of the three brands could provide the world with a sustainable solution without compromising its functionality.