CHENSURE
Reimagine fashion
Bio-luxury fashion solution
BIO-INVASIVEFURS
In my past fashion designs and my experience in fashion, I have always been in extricably linked to fur as a material. During my undergraduate studies, I went to the workshop of SAGA Furs to experience animal fur in depth and I got to know the whole process of the fur industry in depth and I know thatanimal fur is inhumane. Not only that, but when I used the knife to cut the furs, in addition to the unforgettable feeling, the amount of waste of furs due to cutting made me understand the luxury and inhumanity of the industry.
In 2018, the fashion industry is facing an unprecedented winter in the animal fur industry with the sudden campaign to boycott fur launched by many animal protection groups. Fake fur made from plastic began to gain further popularity around this time, with most fur-like fibres being made from fibres such as viscose, and in the face of the prevailing social climate, many fashion brands eventually chose toutilise fake fur as an alternative to animal fur.
During this gradual substitution process,environmental concerns grew. Fake fur fibres, mostly made from PTEA. Do degrade slowly in the soil, despite the fact that animal fur is not sufficiently humanitarian and the contamination caused by preservative chemicals during its production is terrible. Fake fur, on the other hand, takes hundreds of years to fully degrade in the soil and can pose a greater threat to the environment than animal fur.
This is why environmental groups have started the trend of "protecting our environment with real animal furs".To this day, the fashion industry still does not have an answer for the fur industry, and most fashion brands, unable to deal with this contradiction, have simply abandoned fur as a fabric.
Early explorations
PLA - A new future with fur
In 2020, I was fuming at the thought of using fur as a material in my collection. I was pressured by current social opinion to work on creating a new type of fur for my fashion collection. I wanted to create a new kind of fur to save the fur industry from the winter, one that was both environmentally and fashionably appropriate, but also humanitarian.In a relatively simple experiment, I tried to implant biodegradable pla maize fibres into the leather using a new flocking technique,my first attempt to achieve the initial form of fur I envisaged.The flocking technique I tried was able to avoid the wasteful cutting of furs compared to other processes in the fur industry. But at the time I did not think of it in terms of an ecosystem, I thought it was just an initial prototype and idea until I was taught about biodesign. After the first unit and learning more about it, I would start to reflect on the furs I made from time to time. It has been four years since 2018 and there is still no new fur to save the industry and my fur is not the final answer to a salvageable industry, the- -re is still a lot of room to explore in terms of material choices and techniques to use, so it has become a topic I really want to think about in more depth.
Bio-luxury fashion solution
Bio-Furs？Bio-invasive furs
In recent years, fur has been gradually abandoned by the fashion industry. Animal furs are cruel and inhumane, and the fake furs made of acrylic are causing great harm to the ecology. In 2022, most luxury brands have chosen to abandon fur because no reasonable solution can be found.
As a designer in the fashion fur industry, I began to wonder if there was a win-win bio-material that did not come from animals and could be degraded in the soil, while solving the ecological problems and making fur a win-win material to save its future in the fashion industry.
Through an innovative fur ' implanting' technique, using invasive plant fibres dyed with invasive plants and some invasive plant fibres implanted on bio-leather made from beverage industry waste, I have achieved a bio-fur that is zero-cut, zero-waste, zero-pollution, animal-friendly and biodegradable. The fibres can not only be used to make fur, but can also be spun into knitted yarns for knitted garments.
bio-invasive furs sample(Nettle&buddleia)
bio-leather coating (waste drinks )with press machine
Bio-leather coating
A bio-coating alternative to PU leather
I was inspired by mango food rolls to produce fruit leather using a baking method and after much experimentation I eventually came up with a completely new way of making fruit leather. The method is different from both traditional bioplastics and bioleather in that all fruits and vegetables can be made into leather by varying the amount and form of several additives.
The process is the same as that used to make the food mango recipet.I started by using the bio-leather production method originally used for fruit, and I managed to create my first piece of beverage leather. It is bright and colourful.
After reading about how PU leather is made, I also tried to make a coating of leather applied to a cotton cloth which, after a week of drying, became leather that is more robust than bio-leather with added fibres, while it can be cut and printed in a certain way, and by applying a waterproof coating, it can receive effective water repellency and washing.
New fur production technology
"Implanting" Furs
How to make fur was also a huge problem. That's when I remembered the technique I explored for my undergraduate fashion - planted fibres I had tried planting pla fibres in leather to make fur, but I had never tried planting plant fibres into fur, so I thought it would be an interesting experiment.Most of today's fake furs are made using fibre weaving techniques. Most of them are technically achieved throughthe knitting of yarns, but this does not give the effect of leather and fur, but what I wanted to do was to achieve a planted fur that was a perfect replica of animal fur. so I still had to explore technically. Planted fibre is a fur production technique that I invented as an undergraduate, which simulates the technical process of hair transplantation by modifying the needles of a computerised embroidery machine to achieve a planted effect, a technique that is very popular in the wig manufacturing industry. The technique produces a fur without any traces of production on the front,as if the fur is growing on top of the fur.And the technology prevents the production of unnecessary fur waste. Traditional fur has to be cut,
but this planting technique allows the production to be positioned according to the shape of the garment (a technique similar to position printing), avoiding the need for cutting.
invasive plant dye(Nettles)
invasive plant dye (Buddleia )
Win-win dye plan
Invasive plants Dye
invasive plant dye Experiment process (Nettles)
In the dyeing section I explore how to dye furs using invasive plants. I discovered that the chlorophyll contained in the plants could be used to dye the plant fibres. So I began to see if I could use invasive plants to make dyes for dyeing furs. This way of dyeing is not harmful to nature and at the same time solves the ecological problem.
So I went to the surrounding area and collected several invasive plants (Buddleia, Nettles, Dock Leaf, Japanese Knotweed, etc.) which, when heated and dyed with a small amount of mordant, gave some very bright and special colours to the nettle and ramie fibres.
digital's exploration
Bio-Ar
To bring the story of bio-invasive furs to life, I have created a series of ar interactive videos for bio-furs, using a camera to scan a QR code to open a filter on the fabric and people will be able to see what material and what plant the bio-fur is made of
This allows people to truly understand the story behind the material and gradually embrace bio-fur in the fashion industry（Search for Bio-invasive Furs in the filter search bar on ig and you can get even more invasive plant filter experiences）
More possibilities
More to explore about invasive plants - Bio-invasive Kint| Bio-inasive Beadwork
As a large and abundant biological resource, invasive plants have unlimited possibilities. I am currently exploring further solutions beyond fur. The invasive plant fibre has the potential to be spun into thread, while its dye residue has the potential to be made into bio-clay. I am continually exploring their possibilities to create more solutions for the bio-luxury fashion Industry.
At the same time, the implant technique is completely new and it has upcycling possibilities. I will be exploring more possibilities for upcycling in the coming time - collecting old clothes and turning them into furs etc...
I'm exploring more possibilities in the world of invasive plants ！
