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Sustainable Fashion Innovations

We’re taking a look at 2018’s most innovative sustainable fashion including startups like Orange Fibre, circular.fashion, FLOCUS, Frumat, Good on You, Mango Materials, Algiknit, BioGlitz, and  Style Lend. These companies have gained attention from global companies like Adidas, Zalando and Target, while blending technological innovations with sustainable development.

Innovative Software

circular.fashion  designed a fashion innovation software that interconnects closed-loop recycling technologies with circular designs and retail models. The technology enables fashion brands to produce circular garments assigned unique identification tags. This opens a network of sorting and recycling companies and provides maximum recycling possibilities.

Sustainable Textiles

Algiknit extracts textile fibres from kelp, a type of seaweed. The resultant kelp-based biopolymer mixture is spun into thread. The yarn is then 3D printed or knitted based on the designer’s purpose.  Finally, the material is colored with natural pigments and is biodegradable. Now that’s sustainable fashion!

Waste Becomes Resources

Reverse Resources is a digital platform that enables fashion brands and apparel manufacturers to address consumer waste for industrial upcycling. Reverse Resources allows garment and textile manufacturers to map leftover fabrics throughout their life cycle. These marked resources can then be reused and reintroduced into the supply chain, saving supply cost and providing a sustainable option to the waste the industry struggles with.

From Fruit to Fabric

Frumat creates leather-like sustainable fashion materials from apple skins. An apple’s skin contains a substance called pectin. Normally, apple skins are an industrial waste product. Frumat uses pectin to create durable and compostable and sustainable leather alternatives. These are used in personal luxury goods and fashion accessories. The leather proxies are dyed and tanned without chemicals. Pretty cool, right!? I love the fact that it’s a faux leather that’s not made from oil-based synthetics.

Environmental Innovation

Nano Textile developed a sustainable alternative to adhesive chemicals. These glues are used to attach accessories and finishes on fabrics. This sustainable fashion innovation implants ‘finishes’ straight into fabrics. It protects the end-user and the environment from toxic and hazardous chemicals. Sounds like a win!

Reducing Water Requirements

Flocus produces fillings, yarns, and textiles from kapok tree fibers. The tree grows without chemicals in drylands. These lands are not normally suitable for agricultural farming. Ideally the tree will replace cotton and bamboo as a sustainable fashion alternative.

Natural Textiles as Fashion Innovation

Orange Fiber is an Italian sustainable fashion startup that creates natural textiles from oranges and lemons. Orange Fiber comes from the cellulose in the discarded skins and fibers during processing. Then the paste is enriched with essential oils. By this process they are able to produce high-quality, eco-friendly fabrics. I bet they smell amazing too!

Environmentally Safe Glitter

BioGlitz produces biodegradable glitter based on a formula made from eucalyptus tree extract. The world’s first eco-glitter is recyclable, replacing the micro plastics presently used. Sounds like great news for Burning Man!

About the author 

Richard Gregory

Hi, I'm Richard, the founder and CEO of Prototype Global. More than anything else in this life, I love to help other people achieve their dreams. Working at Prototype offers me an amazing chance to positively impact so many people and brands. I hope you'll be one of them! ?

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