Development of a sustainable, recyclable, and circular Waterproof Breathable Textile

防水透气服装通常由层压多层结构组成，包括耐用的防水涂层外壳纺织品、防水透气膜和衬里材料。这些面料粘合在一起形成多层结构，面料片缝在一起生产服装。为了防止接缝处漏水，它们用胶带密封。这种方法提供了高性能的服装，但受到三个关键缺点的限制：**使用与环境有关的化学品。**高性能膜通常由膨胀聚四氟乙烯（ePTFE; Gore-Tex）制成，其固有防水，防风和化学惰性。然而，各品牌正面临越来越大的消费者压力，要求它们去除全氟化合物（全氟和多氟化学品），因为这些有害化学品在释放到环境中时会持续存在并进行生物积累（OECD\_2013）。**没有可持续的报废解决方案。**多种材料的纺织品不能分开，在使用寿命结束时，要么填埋，要么焚烧。在垃圾填埋场，塑料随着时间的推移慢慢分解，产生有害的微塑料，并在环境中持续存在（OECD\_2013）。在焚烧过程中，防水透气纺织品（wbt）中使用的聚四氟乙烯膜已被证明会产生剧毒的氢氟酸，这种氢氟酸在典型的市政焚烧炉（Aleksandrov\_et\_al\_2019）中会转化为萤石。**对廉价劳动力的需求。**与服装生产相关的高手工劳动意味着制造需要大量的裁布工和缝纫机操作员。中国占世界纺织品出口总值的38%左右（WTO\_2019）。最近莱斯特的封锁使纺织工人的状况更接近家庭，据报道，工人的工资远低于英国的最低工资（每小时低至3.5英镑），并且在不安全的条件下工作，封锁期间很少或根本没有社交距离。Amphibio是一家位于伦敦的微型中小企业，由设计师和材料科学家Jun Kamei于2018年11月创立，致力于探索可穿戴超疏水多孔膜的潜在商业应用。在Innovate UK的支持下，我们将开发一种创新的WBT，实现三个p的三重底线：人、地球和利润：1 .**人。**我们将开发一种使用数字3D编织的自动化整体服装制造工艺，从而消除对廉价劳动力的需求。优衣库在2017年推出了3D针织系列，现在正在使用3D针织生产无缝棉质套头衫。然而，3D编织尚未应用于生产防水服装，因为现有的多层wbt需要传统的裁剪和缝纫生产。由于我们用单一材料生产WBT，我们可以使用数字3D编织来生产高性能的无缝服装。SHIMA SEIKI的wholegment Mach2XS针织机可以在90分钟内编织一件定制夹克，单台机器每年可生产5000多件夹克（Los\_Angeles\_Times\_2017）.2\.**Planet。**我们的单材料WBT将100%可回收，不含pfc。此外，3D编织是零浪费的。裁剪缝合生产通常会将大约五分之一的织物留在裁剪室的地板上（EPRS\_2019）。**与英国领先的服装品牌合作，我们的创新材料将帮助组织实现其可持续发展目标，支持英国服装行业在2019冠状病毒病后“更好地重建”。

Waterproof breathable garments typically consist of a laminated multi-layer construction, comprising a durable water-repellent-coated outer shell textile, a waterproof breathable membrane, and a lining material. These fabrics are bonded together to form the multi-layer structure, with pieces of fabric sewn together to produce garments. To prevent leaks along seams, they are sealed with tape. This approach delivers high-performance apparel, but is limited by three key drawbacks:1\.**Use of environmentally concerning chemicals.** High-performance membranes are typically manufactured from expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE; Gore-Tex), which is inherently waterproof, windproof, and chemically inert. However, brands are under increasing consumer pressure to remove PFCs (per- and poly-fluorinated chemicals), since these harmful chemicals persist and bioaccumulate when released in the environment (OECD\_2013).2\. **No sustainable end-of-life solutions.** Multi-material textiles cannot be separated and face either landfill or incineration at end-of-life. In landfill, plastics break down slowly over time to produce microplastics, which are harmful and persist in the environment (OECD\_2013). During incineration, PTFE membranes used in Waterproof Breathable Textiles (WBTs) have been shown to produce highly toxic hydrofluoric acid, which is converted to fluorspar in a typical municipal incinerator (Aleksandrov\_et\_al\_2019).3\.**Requirement for cheap labour.** High manual effort associated with garment production means manufacture requires large numbers of fabric cutters and sewing machine operators. China accounts for around 38% by value of the world's textile exports (WTO\_2019). The recent lockdown in Leicester has brought the condition of textile workers closer to home to the fore, with workers reportedly receiving far below UK minimum wage (as little as £3.50/hour) and working in unsafe conditions, with little or no social distancing during lockdown (The\_Sunday\_Times\_2020).Amphibio is a London-based micro-SME founded in November 2018 by Jun Kamei, a designer and material scientist exploring potential commercial applications of wearable superhydrophobic porous membranes. With Innovate UK support, we will develop an innovative WBT that delivers on the triple bottom line of three Ps: People, Planet, and Profit:1\.**People.** We will develop an automated whole garment manufacturing process using digital 3D knitting, which removes the requirement for cheap labour. Uniqlo launched a 3D knitted collection in 2017 and is now using 3D knitting to produce seamless cotton jumpers. However, 3D knitting has not yet been applied to produce waterproof garments, since existing multi-layer WBTs require traditional cut-and-sew production. Since we produce our WBT from a single material, we can use digital 3D knitting to produce high-performance seamless garments. SHIMA SEIKI's WHOLEGARMENT Mach2XS knitting machine can knit a custom jacket in 90 minutes, delivering an annual production capacity of 5,000+ jackets from a single machine(Los\_Angeles\_Times\_2017).2\.**Planet.** Our mono-material WBT will be 100% recyclable and PFC-free. In addition, 3D knitting is zero waste. Cut-and-sew production typically leaves about one fifth of fabric on the cutting room floor (EPRS\_2019).3\.**Profit.** Working with leading British clothing brands, our innovative material will help organisations deliver on their sustainability targets, supporting the UK clothing industry to 'build back better' post-COVID-19\.