Iris Redinger

Iris Redinger is a student entrepreneur with a dream to revolutionize the textile industry. While studying at the Waterloo School of Architecture, she had the urge to spend more time exploring her ideas for projects outside of what her professors were teaching in class. Being a student at the time of the project’s inception aided its growth as it gave Iris access to technical and business resources. Her start-up, Material Futures Lab, is researching methods to employ biotechnology to reduce the prodigious environmental impact of the fashion industry. The technology consists of microorganisms that can be used as a source of textile colorants as an alternative to environmentally harmful petrochemicals. She assembled a team of researchers and experts to put her idea into motion and is now on the path to commercialization. Iris was supported by entrepreneurial programs at school like the Velocity Fund $5K and was recently awarded the Mitacs Entrepreneur Award.