Clothes made from synthetic materials can take hundreds of years to fully biodegrade, with many releasing harmful materials into the ground in the process.

However, one university student has designed a range of clothes that consider an individual’s environmental footprint from beyond the grave.

Francesca Rea’s eco-burial project, Return To Earth, is a collection of burial garments made from sustainable materials such as linen, cotton, bamboo and silk to help people ensure their last act is an environmentally friendly one.

Inspired by a family member attending an eco-funeral, the textile design student at the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design combined her research into sustainable fabrics with exploring how she could make burials even more ecologically friendly.

The Herald:

Natural funerals are increasing in the UK, with people choosing to be laid to rest in woodland burial sites or wicker or cardboard coffins.

There are now more than 270 natural burial sites across Britain offering “environmentally friendly” funerals, often in scenic or woodland locations, with no headstones, and with only natural, biodegradable materials buried with the deceased.

Ms Rea, from Downpatrick, Northern Ireland, found during her research that many existing sustainable options for burials failed to consider the materials the body is clothed in.

Her solution was to design textiles for burial-wear using fabric that is eco-friendly to produce and 100 per cent decomposable, such as plant and animal-based materials infused with natural dyes.

She said: “The idea came from a family member who was telling me about a funeral they had been to when the deceased was buried in a wicker basket. I thought that was great and, because we had been learning about the damage the fashion industry does to the environment, it got me thinking about the clothes a person might choose to be buried in.

“That led to me doing this project on death, how we cling to old religious traditions around it, and how we might seek to make these traditions more sustainable. In this sense, bio-degradable matter, once dead and decomposing, adds nutrients to the ground that allows for new life to grow.

“This life cycle closely connects people to nature and provides the visuals for my design. I have drawn from disintegrated leaves as a reminder of our place in the environment, 
one we must look after for the next generations in the cycle.”

The embroidered burial-wear features techniques and materials inspired by traditional Irish crafts and the ancient burial rituals of her ancestors. The linen she has used for her final-year project is made in Ireland, while she has also carried out research into how fabric made with seaweed, hemp and nettles, which grow plentifully in the UK, can be used in future.

She added: “Textiles have great significance within society. New life is often accompanied by textiles, with the swaddling blanket helping the baby feel safe and contained as it adjusts to life outside the womb. The same is sometimes done with the deceased as a salve, a cover, for remembrance and memorial. My project aims to open the discussion around death and the rituals and practices that surround it.”

Ms Rea’s work is among the 300-plus exhibits at the Art, Design and Architecture Graduate Showcase 2020, an online display taking place in the absence of the annual Degree Show, which has been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It is hoped a physical exhibition of work from this year’s graduating students can be arranged in the future and the Graduate Showcase, to be broadcast live this Friday, aims to provide them with the best possible platform for their talents in the meantime.

Professor Anita Taylor, Dean of Duncan of Jordanstone, said: “We remain deeply disappointed about the cancellation of our Degree Show this year. Nonetheless we are committed to creating the opportunity for graduating Architecture and DJCAD students to come together as a community.