Chinese researchers build a prototype living fungal dress

At Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, a Chinese research team stitched fungal sheets into a dress prototype whose parts perform different biological tasks. Its body produced dark blue pigment, its hem repelled water, and its collar developed patterns shaped by nutrients. The garment is a laboratory demonstration of what the researchers call a programmable living textile—not electronics, but fungus retaining useful biological responses after processing.

The fabric starts with Cordyceps militaris grown in liquid. The fungus forms clumps of mycelial threads, which researchers place in moulds and dry into continuous sheets. Those sheets were initially brittle; treatment with glycerol made them flexible enough to fold, cut and sew like ordinary fabric.

The functions come from living or preserved biological activity. Engineered yeast generated blue, red, orange and purple colors instead of relying on traditional textile dyes. Under humid conditions, selected nutrients triggered fungal threads to grow, helping the material regenerate damaged areas and form patterns. Other nutrients made the surface water-repellent, while Aspergillus niger supplied UV protection through melanin-rich threads.

So what changes, concretely? The prototype shows a textile that can combine color, repair, pattern-making and water resistance within one stitched garment. Laboratory tests also demonstrated UV protection. Its regenerative behavior could reduce waste and extend clothing life, while the material broke down almost entirely in soil within 41 days. For now, the practical result is a demonstrated design and material platform, not clothing already available to shoppers.

The next obstacles are industrial rather than cosmetic. The researchers still need to scale up production and test how the fabric behaves through washing and repeated use. The work, published in Science Advances, offers a glimpse of lower-waste fashion, but the evidence remains at the prototype stage and comes from laboratory tests.