Toronto-based clothing company Identity Apparel is pioneering an unprecedented union between fashion and science by allowing customers to personalize clothing with graphics of their own DNA strands and other biological signatures.
"Everybody wants to wear their individuality," said Dylan Ferguson, president and co-founder of Identity Apparel.
Ferguson and his business partner Aram Melkoumov launched Identity Apparel after visiting an art gallery and seeing a portrait of a DNA strand.
"I never thought of combining science with art until seeing that portrait," Ferguson said. "I sat down with (Aram), and we wondered, ‘What can we do with this?'"
Influenced by the surprising beauty of a person's genetic code, they decided to translate that beauty to clothing in order to make their creations as accessible as possible.
While they could have opted to customize coffee mugs or handbags, Ferguson said that clothing made the most sensible outlet because it's one of the most visible expressions of a person's individuality.
"Everybody is on the quest for unique clothing that says something about your originality," he said.
Melkoumov said merging science with apparel shakes up the fashion world, which can tend to fall into repetitive ruts of blandness.
"We were tired of seeing the same clothing being mass-produced," he said. "All of the retailers were pumping out the same stuff."
With Identity Apparel, fashion fiends now have the option of placing the ultimate one-of-kind clothing order. They can choose between having their DNA strand, lip impression or fingerprint screen-printed onto an article of organically produced clothing. Other graphics can be added to complement and further enhance a personalized T-shirt or dress.
"Why not be creative and wear clothing that literally incorporates an aspect of who you are?" Melkoumov said.
To obtain precise genetic codes, Identity Apparel sends collection kits to customers once they have placed an order. The DNA kit supplies customers with a cotton swab, the lip impression kit uses red lipstick and the fingerprint kit uses a standard inkpad.
The technology behind Identity Apparel may sound like something out of a sci-fi movie or a "CSI" episode — and that's because it is.
"We use the same technology that police departments use in their forensic departments," Melkoumov said.
The collection kits are handled by an in-house laboratory and identities are kept in virtually complete confidentiality.
"We use numbers to associate an order with a name, so the collection kits are labeled with your ‘number' and not your actual name," Ferguson said.
Both Melkoumov and Ferguson said the reception for Identity Apparel has been positive and their concepts were well-received at New York Fashion Week in mid-February.
"When we went to (New York), we wondered how people were going to react," Ferguson said. "It was great to be featured during the New Artist exhibit because the reception was fantastic."
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