Can Tree Bark Make Clothes Better for Us—and the Planet?
VISION: Make fabric more sustainable, antibacterial, and UV-protective using compounds found in the inner bark of spruce trees, a byproduct of Finland’s timber industry.
School: Aalto University (2020)
One recent innovation in clothing has been to add nano particles to fabric to guard against UV rays and kill the bacteria that thrive in sweat, thus remaining odor-free. However, there are concerns that some nanoparticles could affect both health and the environment.
The bark of the spruce tree is famously tough, and contains chemicals called phenolic compounds that protect trees from sunlight and microbes. Using the inner bark of the spruce, students from Aalto University speculate that a local, natural, and sustainable fabric treatment could be sourced from the coniferous forests of their native Finland. This speculative fabric is called SBARK – Shield of Spruce.
The production process involves collecting the inner bark, which is now a byproduct of Finland’s timber industry that goes to waste. Adding ethanol, they extract liquids from the bark, and then encapsulate the remaining phenolic compounds. The resulting microcapsules are then embedded into man-made cellulose fibers, where they slowly release the protective compounds over time. The students speculate that fabric constructed using the fibers could provide the same level of sun protection as commercial sunscreens and keep clothes smelling good by combating bacteria—all while repurposing one of the forest industry’s side waste streams.
“We asked ourselves, what if we could take the protective coating for trees, and turn it into a protective coating for people?” —SBARK creators, Aalto University, BDC 2020
