Top 14 Innovative Sustainable Fabrics of 2021
Most of our clothing materials today are significant sources of waste in our environment. When discarded, they do not break down easily and become a burden as they cause more pollution. However, the fashion industry is taking up the mantle to create new and innovative sustainable fabrics for 2020. These are the ones that have caught our attention.
1. Jelly Fish leather
Jellyfish are quite numerous in our oceans, and the concept of using dead jellyfishes to make leather is one that could make its mark as an innovative sustainable fabric for 2020. Hopefully, this will remain sustainable when there is a need to meet up with increasing demand.
Due to overfishing and climate change, jellyfish is a resource increasingly abundantly. A huge amount of jellyfish are dumped as a waste, but Yurii Kasao started her jellyfish project to make sustainable leather from jellyfish. Creating 100% organic and biodegradable leather from jellyfish.
2. Mushroom Leather
Mushroom leather is a wearable material that makes for a cool sustainable fabric. It definitely feels nice and soft, a quality that will make wearing this fabric super comfortable. Mushroom leather definitely has a future in many industries. It can also be used in garments and bags, and even sturdy furniture and building bricks. Mycelium is carbon negative and can be tainted in any colour naturally.
3. Econyl
Econyl is an acronym for Eco Nylon. This is a recycled fabric that makes use of synthetic waste, including fishing nets and industrial plastics. Instead of dumping them in our environment, the Italian firm Aquafil recycles and regenerates them into Eco Nylon that is similar in quality to the real nylon.
The best part of this process is that it uses less water while creating less waste than the traditional methods of producing nylon. Its practical concept makes it one of the new and innovative sustainable fabrics for 2020.
4. QMilch
A few years ago, a biochemist turned fashion designer created the concept of producing fabric from the milk protein casein. This may be an unlikely source of sustainable material, but it holds a lot of promise for textile fibre production. Waste raw milk products which are deemed unfit for human consumption are used in an environmentally-friendly process to create hypoallergenic and anti-bacterial fabric. People who are sensitive to chemicals have no worries as the production of QMilch involves no chemicals. It is biodegradable and scores high on the sustainability scorecard.
5. Pineapple fabric Piñatex
Pinatex is an excellent alternative to vegan leather. What do you think about wearing pineapple food? Well, Pinatex is made from pineapple leaf fibre, which reduces waste dumped on mother earth by the farming communities that grow pineapples. This is a sustainable and natural cruelty-free replacement that is comfy and undoubtedly innovative.
6. Orange Fiber
Fit for an Italian luxury brand, the Orange Fiber by Salvatore Ferragamo makes use of orange peel to create new and innovative sustainable fabrics. There are as many as 700,000 tons of orange peels discarded in Italy every year after draining the orange juice. Instead of these materials being dumped on the earth, it is transformed into soft and silky fabric. It can also be blended with cotton and silk.
They give fashion labels the perfect ingredient for their collections, a high-quality tool that can be used individually or fused to create unique collections with other sustainable materials.
7. Parblex
Parblex is a bioplastic that can be used for making accessories like buttons and fastening on fabrics. It is made from potato waste sourced from McCain. Made with a production system that encourages zero waste, the textured finish comes in snow, tortoiseshell, and smoke colours.
Parblex fabric is purely fibre or transparent. It is created using a circular economy and doing the same as traditional plastics while being post-use biodegradable and recyclable. They are also compatible with moulding, 3D printing, milling and other industries.
8. Agroloop BioFibre
Agroloop BioFibre is a sustainable fabric created by Circular Systems. This BioFibre is made from crop residue commonly obtained from the farming of sugarcane, bananas, pineapples, flax, and hemp. With this system, all the waste is turned into a new product instead of being left to rot. This decreases the amount of methane that pollutes the atmosphere, making this textile-grade qualify as a new and innovative sustainable fabric for 2020.
9. Vegeatextile
Similar to Pinatex that is obtained from a fruit, Vega Textile is obtained from grape marc. The leather is formed from the seeds, stalks, and skins of grapes gotten as waste during the winemaking process. Instead of being discarded, they are used in creating lovely wine-hued leather that doesn’t involve the taking of any innocent animal life. It is also entirely safe for use as more research is going into its expansion.
10. A.S.A.P. Paper Cloth
This is a collection made as an answer to fashion sustainability. Fashion products created from A.S.A.P. Paper Cloth provide not only convincing performance and aesthetics, but they are also friendly to the environment while being fitted to the market. Made from a blend of P.L.A. and wood fibres, A.S.A.P. makes these forest products into wearable non-woven materials.
11. Qmonos
A lot of us are aware of the usefulness of spiders in our world. Apart from being sometimes scary, they are sources of silk which is used in the production of a lot of fabric. This has inspired the combination of spider silk genes and microbes to create synthetic spider silk called Qmonos. The fibre is considered the toughest in nature as it is as much as five times stronger than steel. Despite its toughness, it is incredibly flexible and lightweight. Of course, since the focus is sustainability, the fabric being biodegradable is a huge plus. This manufacturing process doesn’t endanger any spiders and is an ethical alternative to nylon.
12. Mylo
This is one of the new and innovative sustainable fabrics for 2020. Mylo is made from the roots of fungi. This eco-friendly option allows you to dress fashionably in a cool leather jacket without wearing animal products. This vegan fabric may possibly be the best imitation leather you would ever come across.
Mylo cannot be argued that it is leather, cause it is not. It is made from mycelium and does not contain any collagen. It is designed to be as sustainable as it can be at every stage of its lifecycle.
13. Kombucha Leather
Another tremendous sustainable fabric is the Kombucha leather made from a symbiotic colony of yeast and bacteria. This is called the Kombucha SCOBY, which is grown and used to produce Kombucha, a fermented drink. Since the SCOBY has leather-like qualities when it is dried, this has proven quite useful in the production of footwear and clothing in the fashion world. No significant resources are needed in this production, making it a conservative process.
14. Tencel
The first thing you would notice about Tencel is the antibacterial properties that make it perfect for clothing materials. The growth in popularity of Tencel is due to its ability to absorb 50% more than cotton. Another significant advantage is that it requires less water and energy to produce. This product made by dissolving wood pulp is impressively energy-efficient, and it reduces the production of dangerous waste.
Where Can You Buy Them?
There are lots of sustainable brands coming up today that are encouraging the production of these fabrics. You can check for them online by confirming the materials they use and where they source them from. Look out for transparency, and you will be able to find the right brand.
Buying sustainable fabrics are a great way to give back to your environment while wearing comfortable clothing. This is an excellent step towards making the world a better place for us all.
Waste can be turned into the leather that is incredibly chic while also being cruelty-free, sustainable and biodegradable. And with a wide variety of leather fabric to choose from and considering its cruelty-free. We are proud to offer our leather production services in the UK for your vegan leather goods. Please get in touch with us here and find out more about our services.
