Patrick McDowell and Sparxell pioneer dresses coloured with plant-based cellulose

Sustainable luxury brand Patrick McDowell has announced a new collaboration with colour platform Sparxell to create a printed couture gown and a commercially available shirt dress, thus integrating Sparxell’s innovative colourants for the first time into fashion.

Sparxell was founded by University of Cambridge scientists Benjamin Droguet and professor Silvia Vignolini. It creates high-performance, biodegradable colourants that are free from plastic and toxic chemicals using plant-based cellulose.

“This is about making sustainability tangible. One piece shows what is possible at the highest level of craft, the other makes that possibility part of everyday life,” commented Patrick McDowell, creative director and founder of the eponymous brand, in a press release.

Sparxell pioneers the world’s first 100 percent biodegradable pigments, inks and embellishments such as sequins and foils inspired by nature by emulating natural colour processes known as photonic colours, thus eliminating fossil-derived synthetic finishes and their associated excessive water consumption and carbon emissions.

  “What excites me about Sparxell is how they are advancing what is possible in responsible luxury. Their plant-based pigments and plastic-free sequins are exceptionally vibrant yet completely non-toxic and biodegradable. It opens up entirely new creative possibilities,” said McDowell who won the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design just a few weeks earlier.

 

McDowell had mentioned the process during his fireside chat at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen earlier this month. “Sparxell has re-engineered the cellular structure of cellulose to reflect that of a butterfly wing so that it sparkles without plastic,” explained the designer who describes himself as a “fabric geek”.

The couture gown features two distinct shades of Sparxell's signature blue - a sophisticated matte finish and a brilliant shimmery effect that captures light through structural colour rather than traditional sparkle materials, otherwise derived from synthetic dyed plastics or mined metals and minerals.

Seen here are the first commercial shades that Sparxell is launching to market but additional colours are already available for early adopter brands. In fact, the company advertises that its platform “enables unlimited colour variations to be manufactured”.  

Following the collection’s official launch at Future Fabrics Expo 2025 on Tuesday, the commercial version of the Marie dress is available on the official Patrick McDowell website and retails for 1,900 British pounds (around 2,200 euros).