K-State fashion design students innovate soy textiles

Two teams of Kansas State University fashion design students took sustainability to new heights level in the school-level NEXTILE: Soy in Textiles Design Challenge.

It is just the second year of the NEXTILE competition, and students from 21 universities put their creativity and problem-solving skills to the test to produce a sustainable textile design from a provided kit of soy-based materials. Each participating individual or team received a design kit including six sustainable, soy-based materials including: soy silk, soy cashmere, organic pigment, soy wax and other soy products. Project submissions leveraged three or more of these ingredients to produce new textile threads, dyes, paints, designs and more.

The K-State team consisting of junior Teya Carlini and sophomore Lola Stice learned in November that their zero-waste shirt and bandana designs earned them top honors for Kansas.

Carlini and Stice share, “The inspiration for this project comes from generational ties to farming – especially soy. Our design takes inspiration from the rows of crops and the ways that generational farming takes root not only in the soil but also within families.”
The pair designed a buttoned short-sleeve shirt with a painted soy pigment pattern reminiscent of soybean rows. An accompanying bandana design draws on a soybean leaf shape and embroidery created with the provided soy-based materials. A multi-step process including applying soy milk to bind pigments and coating the fabric in soy wax brought the textile to life.

In their submission video, the team described the fabric as “light, silky, breathable and absorbent.”

K-State seniors Me’Laiha Enriquez and Jade De Matta-Romero earned runner-up with their take on a game day jersey and satchel.
Enriquez and De Matta-Romero say, “We want to pull inspiration from soybeans with a focus on fall and football season while targeting younger consumers.”

The pair sought to maximize utility and reduce waste while designing a jersey with indigo pigment dye and a painted on mesh pattern. An accompanying bag of clear vinyl and Bio-Vera leather strap elevate the product’s sustainable features.

“The jersey is not just a wearable item, it is designed to be recycled or even upcycled further, encouraging second use and giving it a life that extends well beyond typical fashion life cycles,” the pair said in the submission video.

Dr. Sherry Haar, fashion studies professor, says the students developed their projects as part of the Sustainable Fashion and Color class this semester and described the challenge as a great experience.

“Any time our students can work within prescribed parameters set by others outside the department, it is a great opportunity to enhance their creativity and critical thinking skills,” Haar says. “The project helped the students notice that soybeans are all around us in Kansas and they can be used in ways other than food and oil.”

The winners from each school receive a $500 scholarship and the runner-up receives a $250 scholarship. In addition, the winners from each school are invited to participate in the national level of competition. In the competition’s inaugural year, national winner Kasandra Wright from the University of Arkansas wowed judges with a moth design textile featuring a fringe.

U.S. Soy has long been a critical ingredient for product innovation, going all the way back to Henry Ford, who used soy-based paints, textile materials and plastics for automobile design. Soy is used in every industry. Farmers can find their products in the streets they drive on, the shoes they wear and the biofuels for their vehicles. The possibilities are endless. There are more than 1,000 soy-based products currently on the market — from tires and firefighting foam to fabrics and turf. You name an industry, and U.S. Soy is almost always an essential component.

U.S. soybean farmers and industry partners consistently push the limits of innovation to discover and deliver solutions to the most significant challenges our world faces, such as food security and climate change. NEXTILE was created to put sustainable soy materials into the hands of the brightest young minds in design to create the next generation of eco-friendly and biobased textile solutions.

Learn more about NEXTILE, the participating schools and students, and the next round of soy-based sustainable innovation at www.ussoy.org/nextile.

K-State fashion design students Teya Carlini and Lola Stice hand painted two soy-based fabric swatches using earth pigment to create a winning textile design. The design at left was created for a buttoned t-shirt, the design at right was created for an accompanying bandana.