Wearable technology company Petit Pli has launched a clothing collection made from mono-fibre polyester that adapts to the wearer's body shape and size.

The London-based studio, which has previously designed expandable clothes for children, launched the adultwear collection with the goal of reducing environmental damage, meeting user demand and catering to pregnant women.

The clothes are made from a mono-fibre polyester that contracts and expands to fit the wearer over time. The versatility of this patented material is meant to make it suitable for all genders, styles, shapes and sizes, including pregnant women.

"Our adultwear has been engineered using placements of our patent-accepted structure in areas which see the most extreme growth in adults – the lower trunk, which can triple in size over a matter of weeks during pregnancy," Arabella Turek, Petit Pli's COO told Dezeen.

"The finish of the textile is our most comfortable to date. A mono-fibre construction allows clothing to be easier to recycle at the end of life since more energy would be required to separate a mixture of fibres."

Significantly, the clothes can be worn throughout all stages of a pregnancy thanks to the way they adapt to changes in size and shape.

"The series of garments have been created to work during and after pregnancy, which sees the body go through such extreme anatomical and physiological changes," Ryan Mario Yasin, founder and CEO of Petit Pli said.

"Petit Pli Adultwear is soft and comfortable for ease of movement and expands across the bust, under arms and around the bump, with elasticated bands at the waist of the trousers and hem of the gilets to ensure fit. After pregnancy, the fabric contracts again, retaining its original shape."

The collection consists of an outerwear gilet, inner gilet and trousers. The team wanted the clothing to be tight-fitting and shapely as an antidote to more traditional unisex clothing.

"Petit Pli Adultwear is soft and comfortable for ease of movement and expands across the bust, under arms and around the bump, with elasticated bands at the waist of the trousers and hem of the gilets to ensure fit," Yasin continued.

In addition to lasting through all stages of adulthood, Petit Pli hopes the collection will minimise the number of people sending back their clothes – another key contributor to fashion industry emissions.

"By applying our unique patent-accepted material to adultwear we had the potential to reduce emissions created by size-related returns by creating a one size adult fit design," he stated.

The clothes build on Petit Pli's children's collection, which won a Dezeen Award in 2018. The innovative designs were made to stretch as children grow.

Significant tweaks were made to the structure of the children's designs to ensure the adultwear fit pregnant bellies.

Petit Pli has also created an expandable face mask in response to the surge in plastic pollution during the coronavirus pandemic.