In the future, your clothes might come from vats of living microbes. Reporting in the Cell Press journal Trends in Biotechnology on November 12, researchers demonstrate that bacteria can both create fabric and dye it in every color of the rainbow—all in one pot. The approach offers a sustainable alternative to the chemical-heavy practices used in today’s textile industry.

“The industry relies on petroleum-based synthetic fibers and chemicals for dyeing, which include carcinogens, heavy metals, and endocrine disruptors,” says senior author and biochemical engineer San Yup Lee of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. “These processes generate lots of greenhouse gas, degrade water quality, and contaminate the soil, so we want to find a better solution.”

Known as bacterial cellulose, fibrous networks produced by microbes during fermentation have emerged as a potential alternative to petroleum-based fibers such as polyester and nylon.