Spray-on Fabric

In the Department of Chemical Engineering, a research group is working on a technology that may excite as much interest from Vogue as from scientific journals. Fabrican, the instant spray-on fabric from an aerosol can, aims to bridge the gap between science and fashion, as well as provide a new material with potential applications for the medical, transport and chemical industries.

Spanish fashion designer Dr Manel Torres is an Academic Visitor at Imperial, where he leads the interdisciplinary initiative to produce novel, instant materials for designers, enabling them to create garments in completely new ways. Manel joined the Royal College of Art with the intention of developing a spray-on fabric from an aerosol can. He began with a protoype fabric made from cotton fibres sprayed with paint, but realising the need for a more formal scientific input, he turned for advice to Imperial. Here he was fortunate to meet Professor Paul Luckham, Professor of Chemical Engineering, who became Manel's PhD supervisor. A very practical collaboration between art and science had begun.

More: www3.imperial.ac.uk