#15339 - Distributed Design Platform

Detailed Description

SOILSKIN is inspired by the plight of post-earth roamers forced to endure aridity. The wool-cotton textile used for our dress is temperature adaptable, sustainable to cultivate, and nurtures soil health upon degradation. The design features laser cut shoes that sense infertile soil or Martian regolith, and a skirt adorned with voronoi-shaped perforations. Most notably, the Delta WASP 3MT was used for the 3D printed corset & gorget with a degradé effect, representing desiccation cracks due to global warming. This armour is designed to reflect UV rays, and also represents the aestheticization of climate change in dystopian narratives. In our futuristic scenario, a silicone waistband inflates in a maternal fashion when our shoes determine poor soil health. We hope that experiencing a physical response symbolizing the soil as a living entity, will evoke the wearer's empathy for the planet’s thirst.

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No101004462

Project Details

In your project's current stage of development, how does it align with the OPENNESS value of the Distributed Design Platform?: Our rigorously documented process began with ideation, moodboards, an educational trip to CERN, a first concept dress, small 3D printed samples, file adjustments and mentorship from experts. Given all of our clo and grasshopper files are organized in folders, our result is reproducible and can be replicated by using voronoi and attract point components. While this sample was made with PLA, the most affordable and accessible thermoplastic, we hope to develop a biomaterial for 3D printing that can reflect UV rays and thus keep wearers cooler without using electricity. The production strategy would be to localize an existing production chain that produces parts of the material and leverage this into a nearby factory for assembly. Due to the intentional tear-off skirt, reversibility of the medieval-style gorget, and dual way to wear the hood as an off shoulder cowl, the garment is completely customizable. On a design level, the project was brought to its full completion, being presented to a panel at IED, CERN and exposed at a futuristic exhibition. However, the functioning of the biosensing shoes based on AHEAD prototypes built at CERN and the automation of the inflatable waistband have yet to be developed.

In your project's current stage of development, how does it align with the COLLABORATIVE value of the Distributed Design Platform?: SOILSKIN proposes a speculative design wherein the suffering of the earth elicits a psychophysical empathetic response, prompting the wearer to give parts of their second skin back to the ground that sustains them, symbolically and tangibly leaving a trace of humanity behind. We call our new transformative paradigm "psychologically-induced environmental activism". Eventually, the garment will end up with missing sections wherever the wearer chooses to remove segments, leaving them with a unique pattern until the skirt entirely vanishes. While seemingly contradictory, the wearer would be improving the environment by re-purchasing the garment with the same frequency as one would buy fast fashion, since it is equally designed for nature's benefit as for humans. This initiative creates compassion for the pedosphere despite the duality of soil as both biotic and abiotic matter, and encourages symbiosis through the use of biodegradable textiles that decompose into their elemental components. In our envisioning, the ability for humans to mitigate the environmental damage they have created by fostering soil health is democratized through fashion. We hope that thereafter, a sprout of hope will begin to grow from the soil.

In your project's current stage of development, how does it align with the REGENERATIVE value of the Distributed Design Platform?: While decay is often associated with death, it is paradoxically the key to cultivation, serving as a mechanism for energy transfer to new life forms. The goal of SOILSKIN is to establish a reciprocal relationship of care, transforming our innate parental instinct to protect a child into environmental stewardship, just as the earth protects us. Our garment employs biosensors in the shoes and stockings, which inflate a silicone band in the abdominal region akin to pregnancy when triggered by poor soil conditions. Afterwards, the wearer can rip off a segment of the dress and donate this piece to the soil. We believe this ritual will create a moment of mindfulness and promote an understanding between the earth and its inhabitants.

Stored in the tube shoelaces, the project harnesses kinetic energy generated from human movement via AHEAD prototypes developed at CERN. These tubes work to power the bioanalytical capabilities of the soil sensor which chemically interacts with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium among other nutrients, transducing the signals to the inflatable stomach band. Wool, as the primary material of the dress, grows between 4-8 inches a year and is part of the natural carbon cycle, repurposing organic carbon stored in plants to generate its fibers. SOILSKIN is built from the regenerative design methodology, by synthesizing only that which is infinitely renewable, thereby promoting conscious consumption, fabrication and ecological restoration.

In your project's current stage of development, how does it align with the ECOSYSTEMIC value of the Distributed Design Platform?: The superficial layer bears the weight of the world. It is exposed to unforgiving elements, absorbs harsh chemicals and protects humans from themselves-much like a parent does. In the same manner, human skin provides a protective casing for our vital internal organs. Our goal with this project is to create dialogue through fashion between humans and soil infertility - one of the invisible effects of climate change. Due to anthropogenic pollution, global warming has drastically impacted soil landscapes, depriving them of moisture and nutrients. With temperatures exceeding 38 degrees Celsius, polyester fibers derived from polyethylene terephthalate plastic are no longer viable for human breathability and have fallen out of use for fabric. Sheep’s wool has become the primary textile manufactured into clothing, as the α-keratin proteins shield wearers from both extreme heat and cold. The material contributes to a circular network of life, as upon degradation, it releases essential nutrients into the ground, catalyzing the germination of seeds and enriching infertile soil.

In our future scenario, human travel is now exclusively on foot due to the volatility of gasoline fumes under the scorching conditions, and thus the impact of heat on people is perpetual. Adaptive clothing is needed to withstand high temperatures for long periods of walking and traversing between cities. Wool meets the need for an affordable material that is temperature regulated, simple to produce, comfortable to wear and can replenish the soil once a garment is longer usable, allowing humanity to transcend beyond the anthropocene into an era of reconciliation.