The sustainable clothing industry has to continuously innovate to be at par with the world of artificially manufactured textiles. Sustainable cotton garments have become the staple clothing accessory for the masses and the classes.
There is another reason to rejoice, organic textile manufacturers are introducing innovative sustainable fabrics to influence couture trends in the coming years.
As a consumer, you can consider the following list of sustainable fabrics innovating the sustainable fashion market on a global scale.
Banana fibers :
Did you know that banana tree stems can be processed to obtain banana fibers? Banana is an excellent sustainable resource for textiles. A byproduct of food production, this matte, durable fibre has a high affinity for colour and can be weaved into many designs including tailored jackets and shirts, as well as soft furnishings.
The banana stem’s thick-walled tissues are held by a sticky mixture of cellulose, lignin, and hemicelluloses. Thus, banana fibers of varying grades of thickness are used to produce several types of sustainable fabrics.
Lotus fabric :
Lotus fabric garments may be available in the West as an exotic fabric, but they are traditional to South and South-East Asia. These alternative fabric types have been around for centuries as a luxurious fabric that continues to be immensely tough, lightweight, aesthetic, and organic.
By wearing lotus fibre fabrics, one feels calm, peaceful and meditative. It also cures the wearer of headaches, heart ailments, asthma, and lung issues. The lotus fabrics are 100 percent organic, and hence are environmentally friendly.
Organic clothing manufacturers in India, such as VCI Exports, have made lotus fabric textiles readily available across the subcontinent.
Corn fabric :
Corn fabric is a fairly new concept in the world of eco-friendly textiles. The fabric conceptualizes the idea of using fermented plant sugars derived from corn. Corn fabric provides the perfect balance of toughness and flexibility. The fabric displays the ease of natural fibres such as cotton, silk, and wool, whereas the functioning, price, and easy care attributes are similar to the synthetics.
Corn fibre is 100% plant-based fibre and fully biodegradable. When compared with petroleum-based plastics, the manufacturing of corn fibre saves more than one tonne of CO2 emissions per tonne of fibre. The sticklers measure the eco-friendly fabrics by the more conventional yardstick, nevertheless, today there is a huge acceptance of corn fabric by customers and manufacturers in general, as any type of growth in environmental protection is worth following and supporting.
Milk fabric :
Milk fiber or milk wool is a type of Azlon, a regenerated protein fiber based on the casein protein found in milk. We can wear milk in the form of milk fabrics and the idea itself may make us feel better. Milk protein fabric is made out of skimmed milk. The second reason why milk cotton is living its new popularity is that its production is 100% sustainable.
Conclusion
Hemp fibers are just the tip of the iceberg for sustainable textile innovation. Some other upcoming sustainable fabrics trailing the list include coffee ground fibers and stinging nettle fibers, as more and more of these sustainable fabrics become commonplace.