Alt-fabrics derived from things like pineapple leaves, roses, and coffee grounds are becoming more popular as consumers increasingly hold brands accountable for their sustainability efforts.
Photograph by Heami Lee; Prop Styling by Rebecca BartosheskyLong before Carmen Hijosa developed a new kind of sustainable fabric—one that looks and feels like leather but comes from pineapple leaves—there was a business trip that would change her life.
In 1993, as a textile design consultant for the World Bank, Hijosa embarked on a tour of leather tanneries in the Philippines. She knew leather’s detriments—the resources required to raise and slaughter cattle, and the toxic chemicals used at tanneries that endanger workers and pollute land and waterways. What she hadn’t quite counted on was the smell.
“It was pretty shocking,” Hijosa recalls. She’d worked with leather makers for 15 years but hadn’t witnessed such poor working conditions. “Suddenly I realized, oh my God, this is really what it means.”
She wondered how she could continue to support a fashion industry that is so destructive to the planet. And so she quit her job with no plan—just an abiding sense that she had to be part of the solution, not the problem.
She’s not alone. Hijosa is one of a growing cohort of solution seekers driven to change the clothes we wear by offering a new range of materials and textiles. We’re talking more than just organic cotton and recycled fibers, which help but don’t go nearly far enough. Luxury brands are test-driving more innovative materials that waste less, wear better, and may substantially improve the industry’s social and environmental impact.
Alt-fabric research is hot today, driven by concerns over high-demand textiles. Besides leather production’s toxic chemicals, cotton requires vast amounts of land and pesticides; and polyester, derived from petroleum, has been found to shed tiny plastic microfibers when laundered, polluting waterways and entering the food chain.
So what alternatives look promising? Consider these, which may seem more at home in your grocery cart than your closet.
Pineapple Leaves
Hijosa was twisting pineapple leaves around her fingers when she realized the long fibers inside the leaves, used in Filipino ceremonial garb, could be used to make a durable, supple mesh, finished with a leatherlike top layer. In 2016 she founded Ananas Anam, makers of Piñatex, aka “pineapple leather,” which repurposes the waste of pineapple harvests. Since then, Chanel, Hugo Boss, Paul Smith, H&M, and Nike have used Piñatex.
Mushrooms
Mycelium, the underground threadlike filaments that produce mushrooms, can also make a leatherlike material. Mylo, a promising “mushroom leather” produced by California start-up Bolt Threads, debuted this year in collections by Stella McCartney (a bustier and trousers), Adidas ( Stan Smith sneakers), and Lululemon (yoga mats). Expect more in 2022.
Roses
Traditional silk is derived from silkworms that are usually killed. Rose-petal silk comes from waste petals. BITE Studios, a rising brand based in London and Stockholm, featured this fabric in dresses and separates in its spring 2021 line.
Coffee Grounds
Java rejuvenators include Finnish label Rens Originals (offering sleek sneakers with coffee-infused uppers), Oregon-based Keen footwear (soles and footbeds), and Taiwan textile company Singtex (yarn for sports gear that reportedly offers natural antiodor properties and UV-ray protection).
GrapesThe Italian company Vegea’s leather created from Italian winery grape waste (leftover stems, seeds, skins) popped up this year on H&M boots and eco-friendly brand Pangaia sneakers.
Stinging NettleAt London Fashion Week in 2019, British label Vin + Omi showed dresses made of nettle harvested from Prince Charles’ Highgrove Estate and spun into yarn. Pangaia currently uses nettle, along with other fast-growing plants (eucalyptus, bamboo, seaweed) in its new PlntFiber collection of hoodies, tees, track pants, and shorts.
Banana Leaves
Musa fiber, made from banana leaves, is water- and tear-resistant, and has been used in H&M sneakers. Pangaia’s FrutFiber line of tees, shorts, and dresses features a fiber derived from banana, pineapple, and bamboo.
The ultimate challenge for these innovators is getting buy-in from designers and consumers.
“These materials are being promoted for ecological reasons, but that’s not the same as appealing to practical improvements in people’s daily lives,” says Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She points to fashion’s sea change in the 1940s and ’50s, when shoppers flipped for a new fiber—polyester—thanks to ads touting poly’s practical benefits. “Saving the world is laudable but hard to grasp,” she says.
The good news is that sustainability and climate change are no longer theoretical, notes Dan Widmaier, co-founder of Mylo-maker Bolt Threads.
“It’s astounding, the number of things that smack you in the face and say ‘This is real,’” he says, ticking off on his fingers: tornadoes, droughts, food shortages, wildfire seasons. He believes shoppers will start demanding brands wake up to that sobering reality. “Every brand is reading what the consumer wants and delivering it. If they don’t, they’re out of business.”
This article appeared in the December 2021 issue of Penta magazine.
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