Bioengineering textiles across scales for a sustainable circular economy

Current textile production and processing practices provide materials with desirable performance properties, such as stretch and moisture management, but these processes are leading contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, microplastic pollution, and toxic wastewater. Fortunately, green alternatives to current textile fibers that support a transition to a sustainable, circular materials economy are within reach. Bioengineering of fibers at the nano-, micro-, and macroscale provides several avenues to improve both the environmental impacts and technical performance of textile materials. Herein, we provide an overview of recent efforts to bioengineer fibers and textiles from the biopolymer components to biofabrication schemes. These include the genetic engineering of microorganisms for biofabrication, green chemistry processing of raw materials, and green manufacturing techniques. This overview informs a discussion on the future outlook of sustainable biotextile production, with a focus on utilization of waste streams to both improve the circularity and commercial viability of the processes.