10 Innovative Clothing Materials

Whether you buy new clothes online or at the mall, they are made from the same materials: polyester, cotton, nylon, wool, leather...

If you're looking for eco-friendly alternatives, you can buy clothing made from 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? We present the top 10 most innovative materials for making clothes and accessories.

• 10. Apple leather

  First on the list is a bio-based material made from the by-products of apple juice production.

  When apples are pressed for juice, particles of pulp and skin remain. These by-products contain a lot of cellulose, which is great for making new fabrics.

  Apple pomace is crushed to powder, and after processing it is mixed with a synthetic material - polyurethane. The end result is what the creator of the material, the Swiss Hannes Parfom, called Appleskin.

  Appleskin is soft and durable and is used for clothing, furniture upholstery and small accessories such as purses or bags.

  Allegorie, Oliver Co., Veerah and Samara are a few brands that use apple lether to create beautiful and sustainable products.

• 9. Ephea mushroom leather (mushroom mycelium)

  Balenciaga recently introduced a coat made from Ephea, a non-toxic and environmentally friendly alternative to leather and synthetics.

  This material is made by the Sqim company, from mycelium, a filamentous mass that makes up the vegetative body of mushrooms. The mycelium digests part of the substrate on which it has grown 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 lether, 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 recycled into one square meter of wine leather!

  For the production of Vegea, grape pomace, which consists of grape peels, stems and seeds, is first dried. After that, they are mixed with vegetable oil and water-based polyurethane.

  The mixture creates a bio-based material. The manufacturing process eliminates the use of toxic chemicals, hazardous solvents and heavy metals.

  Some well-known brands that are already using Vegea are Ganni, James amp; Co and Pangaia.

• 7. Pinatex

  Pineapple leather, or pinatex, is a textile made from the fibers of pineapple leaves. These fibers are extracted using special devices, washed, dried and cleaned of impurities.

  Pineapple leaf fiber, similar to fluff, is mixed with corn-based polylactic acid and formed into a non-woven mesh called pinafelt. It is dyed using pigments and coated with polyurethane resin, which makes the material more durable and waterproof.

  Pinatex is already used by over 1000 foreign brands, including Svala and No Saints.

• 6. Orange fabric

  Did you know that between 110 and 120 million tons of citrus waste is produced every year in the world? Italian company Orange Fiber decided to do something about it and created a soft and lightweight fabric from the by-products of orange juice production.

  The company uses hundreds of thousands of tons of orange waste to produce orange fiber. It extracts the cellulose from the peel using a patented process and converts it into a fiber that 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 end use.

  Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo has teamed up with Orange Fiber to launch a womenswear capsule collection in orange fabric.

• 5. Cactus leather

  Cacti are amazing plants! They naturally regenerate soil, help prevent erosion and desertification, and can absorb up to 30% of their body weight in carbon dioxide. You can also make fabric out of them.

  Organic cactus lether (Desserto), developed in Mexico, is made from the Nopal (or Opuntia) cactus. Only mature cactus leaves are harvested, meaning that no cactus is 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 crushed and dried for several days. They are then mixed with non-toxic chemicals and finally attached to the substrate. The exact technology is kept 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 making cactus leather products, including Blackwood, Allegorie, Miomojo and KEVA.

• 4. Econyl

  Fishing nets have been made from nylon for over 50 years and are the largest source of pollution in the oceans.

  Luckily, the Aquafil brand has found a way to recycle and reuse abandoned fishing nets. It created econyl (environmental nylon), a fabric made from recycled nylon yarn from fishing nets, textile scraps and other synthetic waste.

  Thanks to the cleaning process, the nylon returns to its original purity. It is then processed into yarn. The final material, econyl, can be endlessly recycled without loss of quality.

  Patagonia, Stella McCartney, Girlfriend Collective, and Wear Your Waste offer econyl products.

• 3. Textile based on algae

  The creation of this unusual textile is carried out by the Israeli startup Algaeing. It is partnering with another company, Algatech, which grows algae in vertical stacks using solar energy and sea water.

  The algae are then made into a liquid that can be used as a dye for textiles. By adding cellulose to the liquid, it is possible to create fibers for the textile industry.

  The manufacturing process is energy efficient and does not contain hazardous chemicals.

  Famous brands using algae in their products are Dr.Scholl's Shoes and Pangaia.

• 2. Lyocell

  This is a type of rayon that has been gaining popularity in recent years as more and more brands make clothing from it. There are different 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 filaments, then chemically treated, and then the fibers are spun into yarn.

  Such a fabric breathes, removes moisture well, and in terms of wear resistance is not inferior to cotton. Bed linen, overalls and ordinary clothes are made from it. Tencel has been adopted by companies such as TAMGA Designs, Saint Basics, Amour Vert and Eileen Fisher.

• 1. Lotus fabric

  This unusual innovative fabric looks like a mixture of silk and linen. It does not wrinkle, which makes it ideal for the production of clothing and accessories. It is soft to the touch, stain resistant and 100% waterproof.

  The production process of lotus cloth is based on ancient technologies. It is very labor intensive as it is done by hand.

  After the stems of lotus flowers are harvested, workers very delicately manually extract the microfibers from the stems. The fibers are then dried and carefully spun into thread to be used to weave clothing.

  You can find beautiful lotus flower clothes and accessories in the Jungle and Lotus Paradis collections.