Fashion for Good is here with its new Untapped Agricultural Waste Project!
Through this project, the global platform for innovation is set to validate and scale technologies that can successfully transform agricultural waste into sustainable textile fibres.
The project, with catalytic funding from Laudes Foundation, will assess the technical feasibility of natural fibres using agricultural waste such as rice husks, hemp, wheat straw, banana and pineapple.
The 18-month project also brings together partners of Fashion for Good like adidas, BESTSELLER, Vivobarefoot, Birla Cellulose and six innovators that can transform agricultural waste into viable new natural fibre blends.
Notably, these fibre blends offer alternatives to conventional fibres and have the potential to displace virgin fibres derived from unsustainable materials such as oil.
The six fibre innovators, AltMat, Bananatex, Chlorohemp, Agraloop by Circular Systems, HempTex India and 9Fiber, will be further developing a variety of different natural fibres and fibre blends with a focus on trialling the highest percentage of agricultural waste, while also achieving the necessary performance requirements.
Meanwhile, Birla Cellulose will work closely with the innovators providing expertise to develop and prepare their new materials for wider adoption in the fashion supply chain, with the participating project brand partners supporting the testing and eventual scaling of these fibres.
Substantiating further, Katrin Ley, MD, Fashion for Good, avers “This ambitious project explores a new source of feedstocks for the fashion industry that, if scaled, will help drive both the agriculture and textile industry towards net-zero.”
Katrin added “We see great potential for these various agriculture waste streams that would otherwise have few secondary uses. By applying innovative technologies to develop natural fibres, we can diminish the pressure on existing natural fibres and shift away from unsustainable materials and sources.”
This first phase of the project concludes in December 2022.
To further drive supply chain adoption and move beyond lab scale, the next phase of the project will pilot the agri-waste fibres from selected innovators in collaboration with partner brands and supply chain players.
Fashion for Good is a global platform for innovation, made possible through collaboration and community.
