Eco Fabrics made out of Milk, Tea and Coffee Beans!
Updated: Sep 22, 2022
The fashion industry these days, seems to be cleaning itself by creating various environment friendly alternatives. Fashion designers have started a crusade to change the image of apparel industry which is considered to be one of the dirtiest industry. There are mainly two reasons. Firstly the cotton crops and synthetic fibers inflict the environment and secondly the outdated machinery and manufacturing methods which is used for dyeing of the fabric creates water pollution and other environment hazards. According to the United States Energy transmission, the fashion industry is the fifth largest contributor of CO2 in the atmosphere. The consumers are now gradually becoming aware and are saying no to these hazardous fabrics and other age-old techniques. That’s why the designers are compelled to create fabrics that are eco-friendly as well as harmless to the environment.
Image Courtesy: Coffee Beans fabric
A close look at the some of the recent Fashion Week shows the inclination of designers to create fabrics out of food, beer bottles and develop air dye techniques and smart tailoring methods for fabric dyeing and garment manufacturing.
Image Courtesy: Fabric made out of coffee beans
Image Courtesy: Eco Fabric
Conventionally in our homes – milk, tea and coffee stay together but this technical era has tried to use it to make the fashion industry more sustainable. So a German microbiology-student-turned-designer Anke Domaske used dairy products to create an “Eco Milk Fiber” called OMilch.
Another such technical pioneer slash sport clothing crusader is a company called Virus who has devised a method to use recycled dairy products to create cool apparel. Suzzanne Lee is one such designer striving to make eco fabric out Kombucha which is a type of fermented tea with the help of “symbiotic ‘colony’ of bacteria and yeast”.
Image Courtesy: Kombucha: Fermented Black tea also now used as a fabric
Image Courtesy: Recycled Fabric
All these innovations have set the stage for new and credible eco-fibers which are changing the social scenario. Standards are ensured to harvest the raw materials already available with us so that each person who is working in this polluting fashion world can provide best green services.
Image Courtesy: Coffee fabric
Which of these materials would you want to experiment with in your next collection? What would be your biggest hindrance to doing so?
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Fuel4Fashion is a design, branding and technology consultancy for the fashion and apparel industry. We provide consulting and advisory services across design, business and IT processes to early stage and mid-sized apparel manufacturers and brands looking to grow their business with the help of smart sustainable management practices. Visit our website here and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn for regular updates.