Fashion page 39

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Major brands are among those leading the charge, with the Japanese high-street giant Uniqlo launching the Innovation Project Japan (IPJ), which it describes as a 'revolutionary' new range of clothing that is lighter, more convenient and more technologically advanced than ever before. Using teams of engineers based at factories in Japan, designers have created everything from breathable, water-repellent down jackets to everyday trousers, T-shirts and zip-up tops that absorb and disperse moisture in the same way as an athlete's vest. Some items are anti-bacterial, which stops them smelling, while others protect the wearer against harmful UV rays.

Such a scientific approach to clothing is hardly surprising considering the modern obsession with technology, but Naoki Takazawa, Uniqlo's design director, insists, 'This is not vanity, it is not using technology just because it is there. There are details on the clothing we develop, but these come at the end of the process and they all contribute somehow to the function of the clothing.' The next step for Takazawa will be formalwear, including breathable shirts for workers in Japanese offices, where regular power cuts resulting from the Fukushima nuclear disaster can make temperatures unbearable. He adds, 'This is not a normal fashion design process this is solving problems. The object of this clothing is to make people's lives easier.'

Uniqlo is not the only brand using cutting-edge technology to make ever more advanced and functional clothes. Ermenegildo Zegna has produced ultra-light 'zero weight' suiting and jackets using a blend of wool and silk that weighs only 145g per metre compared with 200- 240g for a regular wool suit, and Patagonia, a specialist in climbing and other outdoor wear, uses a three-layered insulation system aimed at drawing out moisture while remaining warm and light. Patagonia also has a track record of ecological engineering, having created a fleece from recycled plastic bottles in 1993 and since adopted the use of recycled polyester across its range.

One step further along the technological scale comes catalytic clothing, which its inventor, Prof Tony Ryan, pro-vice chancellor of Sheffield University's faculty of science, claims could help combat the harmful emissions released by vehicle exhausts in cities. An invisible coating of minute titanium dioxide particles is applied to the surface of clothes, where it interacts with sunlight to make its electrons more reactive. These break down water particles in the air into highly reactive molecules, which in turn speed up the natural air purifying process by transforming pollutants into harmless chemicals. The coating, which could be applied in the laundry and topped up every few months, is especially suited to clothing because the volume of individual fibres provides a vast surface area.

Ryan, who conceived the idea with Prof Helen Storey of the London College of Fashion, says, 'This is basically a collaboration of art and science. We have a catalyst manufacturer and a laundry manufacturer talking to each other, but it is not linked to one brand, because to make a difference we need to reach lots of people. If a person had clothes that were suitably treated they could take half a gram of nitrous oxide out of the environment in a day. That means one million people could take half a ton, and that does start to make a difference.'

Nick Collins is The Daily Telegraph's science correspondent