Top 10 Innovative Clothing Materials
Contents:
• Regardless of whether you buy new clothes on the Internet or in a shopping center, they are made of the same materials: polyester, cotton, nylon, wool, leather...
• If you are looking for environmentally friendly alternatives, you can buy clothes made of linen, organic cotton, or recycled polyester.
• But how many times have you found a piece of clothing made from pineapples, cacti, or apples? How about fabrics made from mushrooms or algae? I present to you the top 10 most innovative materials for making clothes and accessories.
10. Apple skin
• The first on the list is biologically based material made from by-products of apple juice production.
• When apples are pressed to obtain juice, particles of pulp and peel remain. These by-products contain a lot of cellulose, which is excellent for the production of new fabrics.
• Apple cake is ground into a powder, and after processing it is mixed with a synthetic material – polyurethane. The final result is what the creator of the material – the Swiss Hannes Parfum – called apple skin (Appleskin).
• Apple leather is soft and durable, it is used for the production of clothing, furniture upholstery and small accessories such as purses or bags.
• Allégorie, Oliver Co., Veerah and Samara are some of the brands that use apple skin to create beautiful and eco-friendly products.
9. Ephea mushroom skin (mushroom mycelium)
• Recently, the Balenciaga brand presented a coat made of Ephea material – a non-toxic and environmentally friendly alternative to leather and synthetics.
• This material is made by the Sqim company, from mycelium, the filamentous mass that makes up the vegetative body of mushrooms. The mycelium digests part of the substrate on which it grew and binds the particles of the substrate into a mass suitable for the formation of the final material.
8. Vegea
• Vegea, also known as wine skin, is a fabric made from the remains of grape skins, a by-product of winemaking and the preparation of vegetable oils.
• It is estimated that for every 10 liters of wine produced, 2,5 liters of waste is generated. Fortunately, this waste can be processed into one square meter of wine skin!
• For the production of Vegea, grape pomace, which consists of grape skins, stems and seeds, is first dried. After that, they are mixed with vegetable oil and water-based polyurethane.
• The mixture creates a biologically based material. The production process excludes the use of toxic chemicals, hazardous solvents and heavy metals.
• Some well-known brands that already use Vegea are Ganni, James & Co and Pangaia.
7. Pinateks
• Pineapple leather, or pinatex, is a textile made from the fibers of pineapple leaves. These fibers are extracted with the help of special devices, washed, dried and cleaned of impurities.
• The fiber of pineapple leaves, similar to fluff, is mixed with corn-based polylactic acid and turned into a non-woven net called pinafelt. It is painted using pigments and covered with polyurethane resin, which makes the material more durable and waterproof.
• More than 1000 foreign brands are already using Pinatex, including Svala and No Saints.
6. Orange fabric
• Did you know that 110 to 120 million tons of citrus waste are generated every hour in the world? The Italian company Orange Fiber decided to do something about it and created a soft and light fabric from the by-products of orange juice production.
• For the production of orange fiber, the company uses hundreds of thousands of tons of orange waste. She extracts the pulp from the peel using a patented process and turns it into fiber, which is used to make yarn.
• Then a soft and light fabric similar to silk is woven from it. It can be shiny or opaque, depending on the final use.
• The Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo in collaboration with Orange Fiber released a capsule collection of women's clothing made of orange fabric.
5. Skin from a cactus
• Cacti are amazing plants! They naturally restore the soil, help prevent erosion and desertification, and can absorb carbon dioxide up to 30% of their body weight. And you can also make fabric from them!
• Organic cactus leather (Desserto), developed in Mexico, is made from the Nopal (or Opuntia) cactus. Only mature cactus leaves are collected, which means that not a single cactus will be harmed in the process. Cacti also need very little water to grow, and there is no need to artificially irrigate them or add pesticides to the soil.
• After the leaves are cut, they are ground and dried for several days. Then they are mixed with non-toxic chemicals and finally attached to the substrate. The exact technology is kept a secret, but it is known that as a result of all manipulations with cactus leaves, leather with a service life of at least 10 years is obtained.
• More and more brands are creating products from cactus leather, including Blackwood, Allégorie, Miomojo and KEVA.
4. Econil
• Fishing nets have been made of nylon for more than 50 years, and they are the largest source of ocean pollution.
• Fortunately, the Aquafil brand has found a way to recycle and reuse discarded fishing nets. He created econyl (ecological nylon), a fabric made from recycled nylon yarn from fishing nets, scraps from textile production and other synthetic waste.
• Thanks to the cleaning process, nylon returns to its original purity. Then it is processed into yarn. The final material, ekonyl, can be processed endlessly without loss of quality.
• Patagonia, Stella McCartney, Girlfriend Collective, and Wear Your Waste offer econyl products.
3. Textile based on algae
• The Israeli startup Algaeing is engaged in the creation of this unusual textile. He is collaborating with another company, Algatech, which grows algae in vertical stacks using solar energy and seawater.
• Then a liquid is made from the algae, which can be used as a dye for textiles. By adding cellulose to the liquid, you can create fibers for the textile industry.
• The production process is energy-efficient and does not contain hazardous chemicals.
• Famous brands that use algae in their production are Dr. Scholl's Shoes and Pangaia.
2. Lyocell
• This is a type of artificial silk that has been gaining popularity in recent years as more and more brands make clothes from it. There are various types of lyocell, the most famous of which is Tencel.
• Tencel is made from eucalyptus fiber, which is ground and mixed with a solvent, and then dried. The mixture is pushed through small holes to create threads, then chemically treated, and then the fibers are twisted into yarn.
• Such a fabric breathes, wicks away moisture well, and is not inferior to cotton in terms of wear resistance. Bed linen, overalls and ordinary clothes are made from it. Companies such as TAMGA Designs, Saint Basics, Amour Vert and Eileen Fisher have "adopted" Tencel.
1. Lotus fabric
• This unusual innovative fabric looks like a mixture of silk and linen. It does not wrinkle, which makes it an ideal option for the production of clothes and accessories. It is soft to the touch, stain resistant and 100% waterproof.
• The production process of lotus fabric is based on ancient technologies. It is very time-consuming, as it is performed manually.
• After the stems of the lotus flowers are collected, the workers very delicately manually extract the microfibers from the stems. Then the fibers are dried and carefully twisted into a thread that will be used for weaving clothes.
• You can find beautiful clothing and accessories made of lotus flowers in the Jungley and Lotus Paradis collections.
