Cotton Candy Lingerie
A playful take on creating sustainable lingerie using natural dyeing methods with natural, biodegradable fabrics.
The majority of swimwear and lingerie is made with synthetic materials and chemical dyes that make products harmful to produce and nearly impossible to recycle. Alternatively, naturally dyed products often feature beige and earthier tones, which limit the aesthetic of the garment.
With this project, the goal was to challenge the notion that a “sustainable” article of clothing can’t be colorful, by experimenting with natural dying to create a functional, aesthetic, and sexy lingerie set.
For this project, we created natural dyes by boiling food scraps such as red onion skins, cabbage, turmeric, pomegranate skins, rooibos tea, turmeric, and blueberries to create a concentrated natural dye solution, while soaking the garment in a natural dye fixative, alum.
We then experimented with a series of color and dye techniques, such as tie-dye, to create sample swatches. Oceansafe generously provided us with fabrics including organic cotton and a unique proprietary material, biodegradable polyester. By sewing the pieces with alternating sections of biodegradable polyester mesh, and organic cotton, the garment revealed areas that both absorbed and resisted the organic dye treatment.
The outcome was a unique lingerie design inspired by the color of cotton candy sunset. Because of the materials and dye choices, this garment can be biodegraded safely in a biological cycle.
Partners: Oceansafe, AMD Berlin
Teammates: Cheryl Barr, Olivia (Kaia) Albritton, Luize Bankovica
