EXPERIMENTAL FASHION LAB \ Upcycling with Bio-Materials

​Developed by What A Waste in collaboration with BioLab Lisboa, the lab positions bio-materials not as alternatives, but as agents—capable of reshaping how textiles are understood, constructed, and transformed. Participants will work directly with organic and bio-fabricated matter, examining its behavior, limitations, and potential when applied to existing garments and discarded fabrics.

​This workshop is conceived as a material-led inquiry into the evolving relationship between fashion, waste, and bio-based innovation.

​Rather than focusing on product, the session is structured around process: testing, manipulating, and observing material interactions in real time. Upcycling is approached here not as repair, but as reconfiguration—where waste becomes a site for experimentation and new aesthetic languages emerge through instability, decay, and growth.

​The lab functions as a temporary studio-research space, where outcomes remain open and authorship is distributed between maker and material.

​This workshop is part of the What A Waste Association internship program, supporting critical, material-driven approaches to sustainable fashion practice.