Self-expanding clothes win Dyson Award

A student at Imperial College London has won this year’s UK Dyson Award for creating children’s clothes that grow along with their wearer.

The clothes, Petit Pli, were created by Ryan Yasin with the aim of tackling clothing waste and saving parents money. They are created using a specially engineered fabric with an auxetic structure – meaning when stretched, the fabric expands in all areas. To achieve the desired effect, the clothes were pleated.

Speaking to City AM, Yasin said: “It’s an honour to have won the UK James Dyson Award, it’s just great to have that backing and recognition of my solution. The prize money is an added bonus, but I know how I will use it. In addition to supporting my R&D, it will help me form an interdisciplinary team of experts to take Petit Pli to the next level: putting it in the hands of parents worldwide, and making a tangible difference to the way we consume resources in the fashion industry.”

Auxetic discovery

Ryan is a student on the Global Innovation Design course, run jointly between Imperial’s Dyson School of Design Engineering and the Royal College of Art. Before this, Yasin studied Aeronautical Engineering – also at Imperial – where his master thesis was on the topic of deployable nano-satellites. During this time he explored how to pack as much material into a 2mm space and discovered auxetic materials.

The clothes grow up to seven sizes, to fit children from six months to three years of age. Yasin received £2,000 prize money and has been entered into the international round of the competition, with a £30,000 prize.