A group of researchers in Finland has converted wood from a 17th-century shipwreck into fiber that has been used in two dresses.
How that came to pass started in 2019, when the remains of a 17th-century cargo ship were discovered beneath a parking lot during renovations of a hotel in Oulu, Finland. The vessel was named the Hahtiperä wreck after Oulu’s first harbor. After its remnants were excavated, maritime archaeologists created 3D models, studied insect markings on the wood, and took dendrochronological samples. Following the years of conservation work for what is the oldest shipwreck in northern Finland, some of the leftover pieces of wood were salvaged.
The Finnish Heritage Agency’s Minna Koivikko said, “The wreck had only partially survived, and not everything could be preserved, even though every piece was documented. It felt unfortunate, and I began wondering whether the wood fragments could still be of use somehow.”
Researchers at Aalto University then stepped in to transform the Hahtiperä shipwreck’s surplus wood into a textile fiber, which was spun into yarn and knitted into a dress using AI-assisted technology. In 2011, the university delved deeper into materials research through a more tight-knit collaboration between its chemical engineering and design departments.
Susanna Ahola, coordinator at Aalto University’s Bioinnovation Center, heard about surplus wood and got a group of Aalto’s researchers excited about it. Under the supervision of Professor Michael Hummel, the outer layer of the wood was removed to expose its core, which was then shredded and processed into dissolvable pulp.
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The pulp was then made into a fiber through the environmentally friendly Ioncell process, which Aalto University developed with Helsinki University. The Ioncell method can also be used for other recyclable materials like paper, cardboard, textile waste and straw for fiber production. The technical process of producing that first pulp of wood and creating the fiber, said to be stronger than cotton, was the most challenging part, according to one of the researchers, Pirjo Kääriäinen.
With a subtle sheen and light brown tone, the dress’ color comes from the Hahtiperä shipwreck. The material was not dyed or bleached. The two dresses were made in Aalto University‘s knit lab with an experimental knit design program that was drawn from different AI-generated surface pattern proposals.
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Kääriäinen said, “The beautiful, natural color was a surprise, since we were prepared to dye the dress.”
One of the dresses is being exhibited not far from where the vessel was discovered at the Oulu Art Museum’s “Tomorrow’s Wardrobe” exhibition. Its companion piece will be shown at Aalto University’s “Designs for a Cooler Planet” exhibition, which debuts on Sept. 1. Designed to be durable, the research team hopes the dresses will be exhibited in the October edition of Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
To avoid any waste, the seamless single three dimensional-pieces were knit on a Shima Seiki knitting machine as seamless, single three-dimensional pieces. Kääriäinen said, “All of us should be interested in where the garments and textile materials come from today, how they should be used and what happens to them after their use ends. Let’s move toward a circular economy in all possible ways; even a very special raw material like this can be recycled into something new of high quality. Let’s not waste our precious raw materials.”
Approximately 6 percent of all used textile fibers are wood-based, which includes lyocell, viscose, Modal and cupro. Looking ahead, different types of biomasses with proper cellulose content will be used as raw materials that are akin to wood-based materials such as straw, she said.
Wood isn’t the only raw material that is being infused into fashion. In recent years, old bank notes, straws of wheat, and old books have been used in novel ways. Natural dyes are of increasing interest, with Natural Colours Global, for example, using refuse from the food and forest industries to create bio-based dyes for clothing companies like Marimekko. Coffee grounds are also being repurposed for natural dyes and new types of bio-based finishings for waterproofing are being explored, Kääriäinen said.
Hoping that this project boosts people’s appreciation of clothing and textiles and makes them keep, repair and use their garments for a long time, Kääriäinen noted how only two or three generations ago clothing was listed among the deceased’s assets. “It could be a valuable inheritance,” she said.
While the 17th-century shipwreck-inspired dress is a fashion first, other maritime wreckages have typically used remnants of clothing and other personal keepsakes for historical and chronological purposes. For example, RMS Titanic Inc. has retrieved approximately 500 artifacts of clothing, hats, shoes, jewelry and textiles from the seven recovery expeditions it has led since 1987. Separately, the discovery of a woman’s shoe, a compact case, a medicine vial, and a bottle of concealer that were found on Nikumaroro in the South Pacific and may have belonged to the 1930s aviator Amelia Earhart have provided more clues about her 1937 disappearance. A team led by Purdue University and the Purdue Research Foundation, with the Archaeological Legacy Institute, plans to search for Earhart’s lost aircraft in a lagoon there, once they receive clearance from the Kiribati government.