"Having the cotton plant produce its own colored fiber is a game changer."

Scientists @CSIRO have discovered a way to grow colored cotton, which could reduce the need for dyeing fabrics in the textile industry– one of the world's biggest sources of wastewater pic.twitter.com/zA9rB1drxe

— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) August 3, 2020

Good news! Scientists at The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s government agency responsible for scientific research, have developed a way to naturally grow colored cotton. Colleen MacMillan leads a team of scientists that inserted specific genes into the cotton plants genome in an effort to produce more sustainable and less dye-dependent cotton fabrics.

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Cotton is normally white, but new research could produce fields of coloured fibres, CSIRO researchers have genetically modified cotton to make it naturally coloured. #cotton #CSIRO #irribiz #farming http://ow.ly/VZ4E50ALKV2

A post shared by Irribiz (@irribiz.com.au) on Aug 2, 2020 at 5:01pm PDT

At the moment, the scientists have colored cotton tissue that should grow into a cotton plant representing their corresponding colors. It will be a few months before we know how successful the experiment is, but the implications for the sustainable clothing industry are vast. Cotton itself is a relatively sustainable and recyclable product, but the dyes used to color the fabric can contain harmful chemicals that can lead to significant textile waste. This could be a great step towards more sustainability in the fashion industry and less reliance on synthetic fabrics.

Source: ABC Story