Natsai Audrey Chieza is a designer on a mission -- to reduce pollution in the fashion industry while creating amazing new things to wear. In her lab, she noticed that the bacteria Streptomyces coelicolor makes a striking red-purple pigment, and now she's using it to develop bold, color-fast fabric dye that cuts down on water waste and chemical runoff, compared with traditional dyes. And she isn't alone in using synthetic biology to redefine our material future; think -- "leather" made from mushrooms and superstrong yarn made from spider-silk protein. We're not going to build the future with fossil fuels, Chieza says. We're going to build it with biology.

Natsai Audrey Chieza: Fashion has a pollution problem -- can biology fix it?

Fashion has a pollution problem -- can biology fix it?

Innovative dyeing technique using Streptomyces coelicolor offers a sustainable alternative, cutting down on water waste.

Biotechnology paves the way for new materials like mushroom leather and spider-silk, redefining sustainable manufacturing.

The future of materials lies in biology, not fossil fuels, with biotech offering solutions to pressing ecological challenges.