Sustainable Spray-On Clothing Technology Turns Into Fabric Instantly

Over the past few years, spray-on body paint that looks like clothing has gotten popular. It’s even starting to show up in television ads and other marketing endeavors. This is the first time though that I’ve seen actual spray-on clothing. In other words, this isn’t body paint. It’s actual clothing that comes out of the can in spray format, but solidifies on the body in a techno-fabric kind of way. Since the “fabric” can be broken down into a liquid and re-used over and over, this could become popular in the future.

This technology, called Fabrican, is based on 15 years of research by fashion designer Manel Torres and particle engineer Paul Luckham. Just like you’d expect, the liquid turns into this type of fabric the moment it’s sprayed on something. From what I’ve read, this technology is already being used for a variety of purposes. Although it’s not mainstream yet when it comes to spray-on clothing, it is being used for arts and crafts projects and industrial uses. As you can see in the video below, the end result is very versatile, so this technology could have applications in many different industries.

When I think about using spray-on clothing in daily life, the roadblock that I hit in my mind is that we wouldn’t be able to spray our own clothing on our bodies. I would think the fact that it requires an additional person to do the spraying makes it impractical for some people. On the other hand, the fact that the non-woven fabric can be returned to a liquid format to reuse over and over makes it the ultimate in a stylish, sustainable clothing option.

I wonder if in a few decades from now we’ll all either 3D print our clothes or make them in some other unusual way like this. Since over 40% of women already shop online for their clothes, it definitely makes the traditional shopping experience seem more and more dated.