The sustainable luxury brand Patrick McDowell has announced a new cooperation with the Sparxell color platform. Together, a printed couture dress and a commercially available shirt blouse dress was created. This means that Sparxell’s innovative dyes are integrated into fashion for the first time.
Sparxell was founded by scientists: inside the University of Cambridge, Benjamin Droguet and Silvia Vignolini. The company produces powerful, biodegradable dyes that are free of plastic and toxic chemicals and are based on vegetable cellulose.
“This is about making sustainability tangible. A piece shows what is possible at the highest level of craftsmanship; the other makes this possibility partly in everyday life,” commented Patrick McDowell, creative director and founder of the brand of the same name, in a press release.
Sparxell is a pioneer in the world’s first 100 % biodegradable pigments, inks and decorations such as sequins and foils inspired by nature. Due to the imitation of natural color processes, known as photonic colors, synthetic surfaces made of fossil fuels and the associated excessive water consumption and carbon emissions are eliminated.
“What inspires me in Sparxell is how you drive the possibilities in a responsible luxury. Your herbal pigments and plastic -free sequins are exceptionally lively and yet completely non -toxic and biodegradable. This opens up completely new creative possibilities,” says McDowell, who only won the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design a few weeks earlier.
McDowell mentioned the process during his Fireside chat at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen at the beginning of the month. “Sparxell has redesigned the cell structure of cellulose in such a way that it reflects that of a butterfly wing so that it shines without plastic,” said the designer, who describes himself as a “Fabric nerd”.
The couture dress has two different shades of Sparxell’s characteristic blue: a noble processing and a brilliant gloss effect that captures the light by structural color, instead of traditional glitter materials, which are otherwise obtained from synthetically colored plastics or minerals.
On the two items of clothing, Sparxell shows the first commercial colors that the company launched on the market. Other colors are already available for brands that start early. In fact, the company advertises that its platform “enables the production of unlimited color variations”.
Collaboration of Sparxell and positive materials
Sparxell’s textile color will be available from the end of June 2025, with pressure orders being handled positive materials via the Portuguese textile company. To introduce the partnership there is a fully printed cotton jersey with Sparxell’s innovative technology, which will be available in the European markets from September 2025.
“The introduction of this textile color changes the way brands can access our groundbreaking technology. The textile industry had no choice for too long than accepting that bright colors mean environmental damage. Sparxell’s bio-inspired technology refutes this assumption and delivers exceptional results from plant-based cellulose,” comments Droguet in a message.
“This is only the beginning – our vision is to make the bio -intended color technology a new standard in the fashion industry and to prove that high performance and work in harmony with nature is perfectly coordinated,” promises the scientist.
After the official presentation of the Patrick McDowell collection at the Future Fabrics Expo 2025 last Tuesday, the commercial version of the Marie dress is available on the official Patrick McDowell website for 1,900 British pounds (around 2,200 euros).
This article was used with digital tools translated.
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