Words by Smiley Team
While the fashion industry is the second biggest emitter in the world, innovations in textile production offer hope it can be transformed.
By harvesting fast-growing plants for their natural fibres, we can reduce the climate impact of clothing production. So it's great news that increasing numbers of startups are researching how to manufacture more sustainable fabrics.
Here are five that offer new and exciting ideas for fashion’s more sustainable future.
Of all the possible sources of fabric, cacti may seem a very unlikely option. But despite their spikes, these fast-growing desert plants can make a wonderfully smooth vegan alternative to standard leather. Cacti leather producers at Desserto harvest the mature leaves allowing the plants to regrow. They then mash the leaves, mix them with non-toxic chemicals and press them into large sheets of leather.
Find out more from Desserto.
Another unlikely source of fabric is pineapples. Ananas Anam, the makers of Piñatex, have discovered an innovative process to make leather from waste pineapple leaf fibres. This requires much less water and produces less waste than standard leather. This is great for the environment, but Ananas Anam also has a social purpose, providing co-operatively-run farming communities with fair work.
Find out more from Ananas Anam.
This third sustainable fabric sounds like something straight out of a science fiction film. A startup called Fairbrics has discovered an innovative way to extract greenhouse gas emissions from the atmosphere and transform them into pellets and yarn to make polyester. Such fabrics are usually made from petroleum and emit a huge amount of CO2, so this would be the first synthetic fibre with a net-positive impact on the climate.
Find out more from Fairbrics.
Winemaking leftovers are the base material for vegan leather made by the startup, Vegea. Their manufacturing process offers an alternative to synthetic vegan leathers made from petrochemicals that negatively impact the environment.
Find out more from Vegea.
Usually considered a nuisance, stinging nettles don’t hurt the environment as much as non-sustainable fibres do. In fact, a company called Green Nettle Textiles has used them as the basis for an eco-alternative to linen. Nettles survive easily in adverse conditions making them a perfect plant to harvest regularly.
Find out more from Green Nettle Textiles.
READ: Discover this 24-year-old's fashion brand made from hemp.
WATCH: Look inside scrapstore: The charity diverting tonnes of waste from landfill.
