Hello, Little Microbe. Doesn’t This Jacket Look Yummy?

What amazed me 30 years ago was my skiing friend who clung to their cotton, wool, and silk layers for insulation. It was CLEAR that the 'new' synthetics were orders of magnitude better. That Thinsulate gloves didn't get wet and soggy. Science will catch up with all facets of new technologies....we are a lot smarter than we imagine.

Such pessimism in these comments! Thanks PrimaLoft - hopefully this is the start of a trend in all manufacturing.

Please start making clothing from hemp. Not only is commercial hemp good for the earth, one acre of commercial hemp consumes as much carbon as 4 acres of old growth trees, and several crops can be harvested in a single growing season. It will grow in almost any soil and actually enriches, rather than depletes, the soil it grows in. It is incredibly strong but can be made into beautiful comfortable, close to all weather, clothing as well as many other things. It is biodegradable. What are we waiting for as we try to find another use for petroleum in our world. Stop the plastics altogether. There's another solution out there.

Or just drop that old jacket off at Goodwill. No outgassing, no waste, and somebody with limited funds gets a nice Patagonia jacket in a color that doesn't go with your new ski boots.

This should be a federally funded research project on the same scale as putting a man on the moon!

Wonder if PrimaLoft has considered the possibility that bacteria will eat the fiber insulation while it is still in the garment? Though measured in a landfill, 86% degradation in 499 days i.e. 2 winters, might give new meaning to the term planned obsolescence. Also, the off gassing of CO2 would enter the atmosphere, there by contributing to global warming which is already shortening ski seasons in some places. While PrimaLoft's efforts on commendable, they need to consider the possibility of unintended consequences such as these.

However, once this product is commercialized increasing its sales at all costs will become the new "optimal".

Remember edible underwear? Who knew how close we were to saving the planet?

I have pretty much stopped buying new clothing for many years. Now I’ve even stopped buying from eBay - with care, some of my clothes have lasted 40 years; even though I am no seamstress, I repair or repurpose those that show inevitable wear. But athletic and outdoor wear has been increasingly problematic in its emphasis on polyester. The commenter who wrote about the REI salesperson is correct, in that advice has been to substitute cotton and other natural fabrics which don’t do well when wet (from perspiration, the elements) with polyester. Although the PrimaLoft manufacturer’s efforts seem like a drop in the bucket, it is nevertheless commendable that outdoor wear manufacturers understand that they need to take steps to protect the natural world their industry and clients love.

This may be the start of some more eco-friendly waste options for clothing. But what about the life of the product? Granted it may be better than cheap stuff made from oil (essentially) that lasts a couple of washes. But how would that footprint compare to garments that were made to last? That may not be not what the fashion industry banks on. But maybe we--as the society that consumes 25% of the world's resources with 4.5% of its people (meaning the globe could operate on a wildly unsustainable US living standard for about 1.3 billion people, instead of 7 billion)-- should think less about fashion and more about durable goods, local economies, and business models that don't depend on planned or perceived obsolescence.

Unless this technology is deployed across ALL the plastics we use, it's just a feel-good exercise in futility. Coffee cups, designer water, plastic forks, bubble wrap — we are literally awash in plastic. Even things that used to be sold in glass (mayonnaise, mustard, honey) are sold in plastic now. Companies foist this eternal refuse into our waste stream with impunity. We pay for it at the store, in our taxes that are inadequate to pay for removal and landfill, and in our land and sea environments, that are increasingly tainted and damaged by this material. Until we have a government that's willing to hold corporations responsible for their waste stream (the way they do in Germany), we're not going to see a change. I'm not holding my breath.

I dislike the feel on my skin of plastic clothing, its hot and often I get a rash. I wanted hiking pants with cell phone pocket .I went to my local REI . I asked for cotton pants and was told by a very snotty saleswomen that that is old fashioned, 1970's stuff, and cotton was a bad choice for hiking. The stores love this cheap fabric and sadly even Patagonia only has plastic pants. Thankfully Farm stores still sell useable, life lasting ,cotton work and hiking clothes. If you want to get away from Plastics go to "real" outdoor stores. If you think they don't last I have 30 year old jackets and pants ,though maybe a little faded they are functionally as good as new.

This gives me a lot of hope -- tempered with fear of unintended consequences. What happens to the waste products of the microbes that eat these garments? Still, if this is an example of business working toward positive ecological citizenship (and let's hope it catches on), and even better, this becoming an ingrained value in the ethos of business overall, what could be better?

I am no patent attorney (or scientist), but it seems like the rights to technology to convert waste plastic into a fully biodegradable material is potentially far too important to life on Earth to be controlled by an individual company. Perhaps a patent to use the biodegradable plastic as fabric or insulation would be reasonable, and likely very profitable. But to patent a viable process to convert pollution into something benign just doesn't make sense. That is a technology society would want shared far and wide. Not held close to the chest.

I suppose this means that a garment made from these new fibers would need a 'shelf life', like food products are.

Or, give garments to a chewy dog that eats clothing. Case closed.

No thanks. I want clothes that lasts as long as possible.

Why not use this stuff in plastic bottles?

Bugs had been eating our clothing for millennia until we started making our clothing from plastic Use natural fibres and the bugs will go right back to eating them. You don't need fancy new technology or a start up to figure that one out Mothballs, anyone???

Fantastic. I’ll buy it, and everything else made to be recycled.

Wait, releasing carbon and methane into the environment? Won't that hasten climate change?

While cool, how about creating less waste in the first place and making clothes last longer?

What did the microbe say to the skier in the stylish polyester puffer vest? You have good taste. I could go on but I have to feed my composter some old underwear. Somebody stop me. The ghost of Groucho is coming for me.

My lunch ate my jacket!

I feel a sci fi out-of-control microbe monster movie coming on.

This "solution" misses the point of the real problem: that we Americans are addicted to "fast clothing", just as we're addicted to fast food. There is a revolution coming in "slow clothing", products designed to last and not be discarded after a season. Many of us "sew our own" just as slow foodies grow their own. The quality is much higher; the shirts I sew for my husband last much longer (and fit better) than the DK or Nautica shirts he bought at Macy's that are already noticeably frayed at cuffs and collar. But people want cheap clothing; and if it falls apart the way his shirts do, who can blame the consumer? The fashion industry is built on a purchase/discard/purchase cycle and is under no pressure to make quality clothing that lasts. I see no hope of this nonsense changing, and the "microbe-degrading" filling is a feel-good solution to a much more serious problem ignored on these fashion pages and elsewhere.

I'm not sure you can force irresponsible consumers to behave responsibly. Part of the appeal behind polyesters is they last a ridiculously long time. If you're discarding polyester garments with any regularity, there's something wrong with either the consumer or the garment. The fabric is only one note, right? I would also suggest it's easier to simply re-recycle the plastics used in recycle fabrics. If this is not the case, I would like to hear an explanation why before fashion designers go laying out polyester sugar bowls for fabric eating bugs. What's the problem with plastic recycling exactly and what bugs are we talking about feeding? Think about the concept. Companies are trying to engineer a consumer products organic organisms naturally don't prefer to become more digestively appealing. How is this considered a desirable outcome, especially among the outdoor industry? Can't they go work on creating less toxic fabric dyes or DWR repellents instead? If companies were really serious about the ethics of fashion, we'd be wearing Aran sweaters. I might add, some people still do.

So how many times have oil eating bacteria been utilized in massive spills? That product is over a decade old. Almost as old as the smaller longer lasting faster charging battery. It's all nothing but fluff to garner media attention and more research dollars.

A large number of people around the world depend on second or third hand clothing and in the tropics polyester is one of the few materials that readily dries. In many countries when the clothes finally become too ragged to wear the scraps are used for bags, rugs, patchwork etc. Clothing is one thing that is easily donated and really used.

How about natural fiber garments that can be recycled? Like used clothing that you can give to Goodwill, or (for children) to the younger kids in the family. Making clothing that can only be used for a short time and then fed to the bugs will benefit the manufacturers--consumers, not so much.

This sounds good, especially when you consider the fibers that break loose in the form of lint. On the other hand, I would like to know if this hampers recycling both of the biodegradable fabric itself and whatever it might get mixed with. Perhaps a “do not recycle” label?

So they can recycle plastic and during the process "sweeten" the plastic so that it becomes attractive to microbes that essentially biodegrade 90% of the material. ?! It would seem that a breakthrough such as this could have far more important uses and implications than just making eco-friendly coats. How about we produce zero new plastic, recycle every scrap of waste we can find anywhere on Earth, and put it all through this process?

I wonder how microbe-attracting fluff would fare in a wilderness canoeing and camping expedition, or even in a summer camp. One of the attractive properties of plastic has been that it doesn't readily rot. Without that property, why not just go back to wool, feathers, cotton?

Alternatively, companies could make products which lasted much, much longer and did not need to be thrown out so quickly. As used to be done.