Jeans which clean up the air around them are being highlighted in Sheffield, as the UK's textile industry continues to show that it is far from dead.

Using Lilliput-like nanotechnology, the familiar blue material breaks down pollutants from industry and road traffic with photocatalysts added to the cloth.

The system, devised by Sheffield university and the London College of Fashion, follows similar 'smart' applications at Bolton University, which generate electricity through minute solar and movement cells in fabric.

Its potential for reducing other more obvious odours, or even overcoming the long-standing aversion of golf clubs to denim clothing, has yet to be explored.

Peace Gardens, Sheffield - temporarily the Field of Jeans. Photograph: Alamy

The technology is getting a spectacular showing-off in Sheffield via a display in the Peace and Winter Gardens called Field of Jeans. This pretty much describes the installation – 30 pairs of the famous trousers donated by local people have been mounted on bamboos in tasteful groups in the Peace Gardens, while others have been scattered in the Winter Gardens, safe from Hurricane Katia.

The technology is being developed under the leadership of the artist and designer Helen Storey MBE, who is a professor at the LCF, and Prof Tony Ryan OBE of Sheffield uni.

Ryan says:

Field of Jeans is a beautiful manifestation of a deeply technical process. There are more pairs of jeans in existence than there are people on the earth. We are developing something using both jeans and their owners, that is both user-friendly and technically excellent.

Storey adds:

Catalytic Clothing is the most challenging, globally relevant project I have ever attempted. Behind almost all human advancement lies a science. Through my work, I try to share and involve the public with these possibilities.

The project is part of Sheffield uni's endearingly named Project Sunshine, led by the Faculty of Science which aims to harness solar power and encourage scientific answers to climate change, energy use and global resources.

The Field moves to London on Friday 15 September where it will be set up at the Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground at Chelsea College of Art & Design from 3pm until 6pm Wednesday 21st September as part of the London Design Festival and the Icon Design Trail.