The recyclable, economically sustainable and intelligently manufactured material, known as Sponge, won first place in the Reshape 2015 global design competition, and is one of the most promising forays into eco-conscious wearable technology.
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Fashioned from a material named Sponge the dinky garment is capable of absorbing oil and chemicals courtesy of a composition that is both porous and hydrophobic – meaning it repels water whilst retaining the ability to soak up other elements.
The material could be also be sewn into wetsuits, letting surfers help clean the ocean as they catch waves, said Mihri Ozkan an electrical engineer at University of California, Riverside. Due to its nano-scale structure, it can easily absorb contaminants which weigh over 25 times its own weight.
Sponge is the brainchild of professors Mihri and Cengiz Ozkan of UCLA, along with Ph.D students Daisy Patino and Hamed Bay.
But when scientists and designers teamed up to create the Sponge Suit, they came up with beach wear that cleans the water as you swim. Moreover, the wearer can use the material up to 20 times before turning it over for recycling. The Eray Carbajo team, Pinar Guvenc, Inanc Eray and Gonzalo Carbajo, worked with Ozkan at her laboratory to design the swimsuit. The final form of the 3D print shell was obtained through the various iterations of the same undulating form.
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‘The filler amount and the allocation were identified by creating several design alternatives, considering the form and the ergonomics of the human body, while pushing the limits in translucent swimwear design’. Not only this, the absorbed ocean pollutants can be released from the material only when it’s heated at 1000 degree Celsius! They discovered a way to mold the material into the shape of a bikini by encapsulating it in a net made of 3D-printed rubber. As demonstrated in the above video, The Sponge Suit absorbs everything *except* water and traps the contaminants in its pores to keep them from coming into contact with the wearer’s skin. We know what a lot of people also like to get up to when frolicking in the shallows and, thanks to its incredible properties, the Sponge Suit should presumably make you feel less bad about having a leak while you’re there (even though weeing in the sea is apparently harmless).
